


Sundome

by eri_quin



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Genderbending, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-03-26 06:38:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3840832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eri_quin/pseuds/eri_quin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a deadly disease deteriorates her health, Ezra decides to live with a bang and make pets out of Valen Rudor and Agent Kallus. She just didn't expect to get attached and for them to start an almost vicious rivalry with each other, and then realize her illness is worse than she thought. Pet!Teacher!Valen/Sick!Fem!Ezra/Slave!(ish?)Kallus with lime-ish intentions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Teacher's Pet

**Author's Note:**

> A/n: Based off heavily on the manga Sundome by Kazuto Okada, also heavily borrowing some dialogue for this first chapter.
> 
> Sundome: Literally translates into "stopping the moment before."

He hated this. His new assignment on Lothal was personally embarrassing and he hated that he had to be teaching in a classroom, than be out flying a TIE fighter.

He was Baron Valen Rudor,  _the_  most well-known pilot in the Imperial Navy.

Why was he stuck teaching?

Valen glared at his roster with his light blue eyes, tempted to pull at his short brown hair and hoping that time would fast forward and break would come already. Along with a Homeroom, he had several Mechanics classes to take care of, including one Practical class. He didn't doubt it would be filled with a bunch of upstarts…

"You look pissed off already," Regor Scalesu, the academy's med bay Head Nurse commented, leaning against his doorway, with long blond hair tied loosely and hanging over her shoulder while her hazel eyes were laughing at him.

He scoffed, "I hate work. Of course I look pissed off." He left out how he hated this position, teaching overall, and how he shouldn't be stuck in the academy. They hadn't even given him a place at the Flight Academy! They sent him to the Imperial Academy, which held a whole different set of rules and standards…

She laughed, "Just make sure to play nice, or else you'll scare the kiddies off before they even start your class."

"Why can't Headmaster Roper just cut my classes in half? At the very least, I don't want a Homeroom. Kallus doesn't have to have Homeroom."

" _Agent_  Kallus is an ISB Agent and is focused on catching those insurgents that have been causing trouble around here. You only have to focus on your classes and therefore can put your mind in automatic."

"His fault he chose to work so hard on his job," Valen muttered.

"You'll join us in the staff room for lunch later?"

"No."

She rolled her eyes and waved, leaving in exasperation. And with great discomfort, he sat there waiting for the new school year to begin and who his new students will be. At least his Homeroom was only seniors.

The students came in soon, piling into class and ending up sitting wherever they wanted, and probably close to their friends. Their loud chatter brought his headache to a new level, and his mouth twitched into a scowl. He looked up and scanned the room, getting ready to yell, when his eyes were drawn to a quiet girl in the back, who oddly seemed rather familiar.

She had a tiny face with large, expressive cobalt eyes that were rather effervescent. Her dark locks fell softly about her face and even seemed tinted blue, and furthermore she had a look of naivety and innocence. Her small pink mouth was pursed, and a darker pink tongue darted out to wet them.

His mouth dropped slightly and he stared.

Then he clenched his jaw and shook his head in amazement and horror. In his years of work through the Imperial Navy and even stationed on Lothal before his assignment to the Imperial Academy, he had never reacted like that with anyone, and he certainly hadn't expected to do so because of a student. In fact, any prior students that he'd met before he started teaching hadn't elicited such a reaction, and he'd even had set his mind that none of that nonsense would happen while he would be on assignment there. It didn't matter how big their breasts were, if they practically stuck them in his face with hopes of a better grade, or how pouty their lips were, or even how pretty their faces or body was. Valen had never even  _looked_  at any woman the way he was staring at this girl.

Dear God, he was having a  _hard-on_  in the middle of class.

Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he crossed his legs and tried to will his cock to go back down before he embarrassed himself in front of his class.

Guys had fetishes, their "turn-ons." Some like to ogle breasts, others are turned on by hips. There were stranger turn-ons like legs, the shape of someone's mouth, their ears, someone's calves…Those of which were actually his turn-ons, and ones he knew others wouldn't get. And because of those turn-ons, in all of his years in living, he had never fallen in love at first sight.

' _Somehow…_ _ **all of her**_ _was my turn-on.'_

Gulping, he finally spoke out, trying to keep his composure and act like he usually was.

"Class 1-A, I'm your Homeroom teacher, Valen Rudor. For the duration of our time together, you will refer to me as Mr. Rudor and nothing else. For some of you, I will also be your Mechanics teacher. Once I call role, the seat you are in is final. Move now if you don't want to stay in that seat for the rest of the year."

There was some mild moving, but mainly everyone stayed in their seats, including the girl in the back. He refused to look her way, so he focused on the names he would have to learn, or at least pass off as knowing for the year. Starting role, he anxiously waited until it was her turn. When it was, he reluctantly looked up and watched her.

She stood up to introduce herself and he saw the school uniform's pleated skirt was entirely too short for her, but not noticeable enough to be against the school rules. Her white blouse was slightly loose and the red neckerchief tied around her collar wasn't tied tightly like it should be. Usually, he would call out on the student on that, but he couldn't right now. Especially with this one.

Damn Minister Tua for making the girls wear sailor outfit-styled uniforms. This wasn't kriffing Alderaan.

"Hello. My name's Ezra Dume, but everyone can call me Ez. I'm pleased to meet you all."

Druk, the sound of her voice just made him worse off.

Thanking God when Homeroom was over, he retreated to his office, glad he had a free period straight after. A knock on his office door made him nearly curse out loud and he moved slightly behind his desk to hide his hard-on. He almost groaned when it was Ezra who entered, but he just nodded stiffly at her.

"What can I do for you, Miss Dume?" he said gruffly, discreetly adjusting himself a bit more.

"Just Ez or Ezra, Mr. Rudor. I just transferred into this school from Naboo and I need to get all of my teachers' signatures. If you don't mind…?"

He refused to swallow the lump that appeared in his throat.

"S-sure."

She came closer, handing him a slip of paper before turning her back to him. "You can use my back to sign on!"

His hands trembled and his head was screaming at him.  _'You have your desk right next to you!'_

She was so close he could smell the light, sweet perfume she used. Licking his lips nervously, he placed the slip on her back and began to sign, uncomfortably aware that if she moved the slightest bit, the back of her leg would brush up against his hard-on.

' _Don't move. Please don't move.'_

His answers weren't answered and her leg moved back slightly, touching it. He winced, but she didn't say anything.

' _Thank God, she didn't notice…'_

Finishing quickly, he handed her the slip and slid more behind his desk. She smiled brightly at him before leaving and he sank gratefully into his chair.

It was going to be a long year.

* * *

Ezra thought it was a little bit funny. That dumb pilot didn't exactly remember her. Then again, she hadn't exactly given him a good look at her, at that time when he'd crashed by her tower. She'd been dressed in a unisex, baggy flight suit, wore her hair boyishly, and had been moving quickly. Plus, she was more than sure, aside from causing his irritation and aggravating distraction, that he probably had a concussion or something that either didn't enable him to remember her looks, or made him unable to see her clearly.

And he clearly saw her this time, if his reaction was any indication.

Valen Rudor, famous Baron and egotistical jerk, was obviously attracted to her. And he totally had no restraint, when it came to how he reacted in her presence. Ezra was beyond thrilled and eager to explore this opportunity, and get as much entertainment as she could out of this. It was a once in a lifetime chance! How could she not take advantage of it?

"Spectre 6, come in."

"This is Spectre 6, Spectre 5," Ezra greeted Sabine quietly, tapping the barely visible comlink in her right ear. A smirk was still dwelling on her lips.

"How are things, Spectre 6? Cause any trouble yet?" Amusement already colored Sabine's voice.

"Who, me?" Ezra asked slyly. "Not yet," she murmured though.

There was a pause and then Sabine was speaking hesitantly. "Do I want to know? Never mind. I don't. Just don't cause too much trouble and draw attention to yourself, alright? You're in a dangerous spot, and who knows how long you'll be there."

"Yeah, I know, Sabine," Ezra, though, was already cooking up schemes in her head with this new development. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about it! I'll report more later, when I have something, okay?"

"Okay, I'll tell the others. Good luck, Spectre 6."

Sabine was probably worrying and would tell the others about her worry, but Ezra was completely in the game now and saw that this was such a delicious chance to mess with that arrogant pilot.

She wanted to see how much she could push his boundaries and how far would he go.

* * *

Valen was in the male staff room, sitting at his assigned desk and listening to the others chatter. His ears caught onto the main topic of a conversation not too far away, with some cocky male teacher heading the discussion. Traves something, if he could recall. He could only remember how much the guy irritated him.

"She's so hot. I would totally bang her right in school," the idiot said.

Murmurs of agreement went through that group and Valen frowned, rolling his eyes as he turned to his teacher's aide in irritation.

"Who are they talking about, Weylen?"

Weylen grinned nervously, "The new student, Val. Ezra."

"Miss Dume?" Valen's frown deepened.

"The one and only."

"It's inappropriate to be talking about a student in that way. They should be shutting their traps before they get reported."

"Come on, Val. It's okay to look, just as long as we don't touch. Code of male teachers," Weylen chuckled.

"That is not –"

"Speak of the Devil. Here she comes," and the student of the hour walked in, smiling at all of them. And was it his imagination, or did her smile grow bigger when her eyes caught sight of him?

"Hi! Miss Scalesu asked me to come here to ask for your registration and medical records for yourself and the students?"

"Oh, I have mine in my classroom! I'll be right back!" Traves was the first one to say, eager to do something for her.

There was a chorus of similar things and soon the room emptied out. Weylen was suspiciously absent as well, leaving Valen all alone with Ezra.

"Miss Dume –"

"Just Ezra," she turned her smile to him, continuing to examine the staff room curiously, ending up near Traves' desk.

"Uh…Ezra. I've already given mine to Miss Scalesu, so you don't have to worry about me," he said uselessly. He winced slightly. Was that all he could say?

She picked up a book from Traves' desk and started to flip through it, starting to laugh as she read.

"Is this really how men masturbate?"

He jolted up and stared at her, seeing her still reading. Traves didn't…He would. The idiot would have a book on masturbation clearly out in the open.

She walked over to him, sitting herself on his desk and hiking a leg up, putting her chin on top of her knee as she loosely crossed her arms around her ankle. He had a clear view of baby blue panties. Frag.

"So, is that really how you masturbate?" she asked curiously, holding up the book to show a rather graphic image.

His face colored, giving an uncertain smile that was unlike him. Valen Rudor didn't smile uncertainly.

"That's…a rather private question."

Her eyes turned oddly cold, and he could feel them forsaking him.

"You…like to play it safe, don't you, Mr. Rudor?" she asked coolly.

Valen's smile faltered and he stared at her. He had the feeling that she'd just called him… _boring_.

She slipped off his desk and continued looking around, rummaging through the other male teachers' things.

He tried to say something several times, before grimacing and clearing his throat to try again.

"Oh…you're still here?" She didn't even look at him.

Ouch. That hurt.

"Ah…um…"

"Hey."

He jerked his head up to face her, his face looking just as eager as those stupid idiot colleagues of his that had left them.

"Show me how you jerk off."

She was leaning casually against the bookshelf wall, staring at him with those cold eyes.

"It's written in here, but I was wondering if you can do it," her voice had that curiosity again.

"Y-you see, it's something done…in private…"

"Oh, is that so? Goodbye."

"I'll do it," he blurted out, not wanting her to just leave, especially on the thought he was boring or such a… _loser_.

She straightened and watched him, eyes more alight with curiosity than condemning like it was before. He gulped and unbuttoned his pants, unzipping and then reaching into his boxers to pull out his cock. Nervously aware she was watching, he began to stroke it.

"It's just that, in this situation…it might, you know, get hard," he said embarrassedly, not sure why he had to explain it.

"It's okay. I've already seen you hard in the classroom," she tilted her head, not moving her eyes away from him.

At her words, his cock immediately jumped to attention and he blushed heavily, wishing that he could just stop what he was doing and bury himself in a hole in a ground somewhere and pretend he didn't exist.

' _She…she knew?'_

He looked up and his eyes widened, seeing her smile softly at him. His cock swelled up even more.

"J-just now…when I saw you smile…it suddenly…" and he felt even more stupid, but he couldn't stop himself. He felt like a train wreck, and he had a feeling she wanted to see him crash and burn.

She stopped smiling, looking at him and making him extremely nervous, wondering what was wrong or if he had just said something idiotic again.

"Stop."

He blinked in surprise, but automatically stopped stroking himself. She crawled on top of his desk towards him, reaching and grabbing his wrist attached to his hand that was still holding his cock.

"I won't have _sex_  with you. Even if I do it with someone else…or as a casual fling…even if we were the last two people in the galaxy…I'd still never have  _sex_  with you. No matter how much you cried or begged for me…I'd never let you come. Are you…okay with that?"

He stared at her, mouth moving on its own to form a silly smile.

"Yeah," he answered her breathlessly.

' _As long as you stay by my side…it's better than being rejected.'_  Valen had firmly decided that this girl was it for him. He was absolutely, freaking doomed, but he didn't think he'd find or see anyone else in the same manner that he did Ezra Dume.

"I see."

She grinned suddenly, throwing herself forward and hugging her arms around his neck.

"Let's make lots of fun memories!"

* * *

It was insanely amazing and disbelieving that she practically had  _the_  Valen Rudor doing crazy things and agreeing to be her…boy toy? Whatever in the galaxy she suggested and he agreed to, it blew her mind that he was this willing. She knew that if the others knew what she was doing, they would thoroughly disapprove and tell her stop, but…this was beginning to be so much fun. She could even picture Sabine being a bit torn, finding it amusing herself, but also terribly worried about the consequences.

Ezra was set on this though. For some reason, her gut was telling her to go with it.

Her eyes caught sight of a figure that instinctively made her want to hide, but there was this horrible, daring  _urge_. Agent Kallus, of all people to show up then, was striding along in front of her. She'd heard that he'd had a class or two he had to teach at the Imperial Academy, but she hadn't expected to run into him. But then again, she hadn't expected to run into Valen either.

A horrid, up-to-no-good grin crossed her face. She shouldn't have thought it up, much less entertain the idea and going through with it.

But a golden opportunity was a golden opportunity.

"Mr. Kallus, I'd like to ask a question about your class," she called out slyly, glad they were in an empty corridor and that because he'd preferred his solitude and privacy, that his own, personal little office given to him for the academy was set aside away from the main part of the school.

He paused and slowly turned. "Unlike the others, I have set office hours –" he started out sharply, before cutting himself off as he narrowed his bronze eyes at her. Then he scowled and took a menacing step towards her. "You! You're that girl with that rebel crew –"

This time, it was Ezra who cut him off, looking unworried and wearing a mischievous smirk. "Ah, ah, Agent! You don't have any weapons on you, and even if I'm still learning, I still have the Force behind me to use against you."

Kallus paused in his steps towards her, scowling heavily. "And how do you know for sure, that I don't have any weapons on me?"

"Standard academy rules," she drawled playfully. "No weapons allowed in the academy, faculty included. And in your fitted black outfit, missing your usual Bo-Rifle, you have nothing to hide," her smirk widened and she gazed obviously at him in an appreciative way that had him become taken aback and uncomfortable, not sure how to take this new turn of events and her strange attitude towards him.

"What do you want?" Kallus straightened up, gathering his dignity and looking coolly at her.

"Let's make a deal," Ezra rocked on the balls of her feet, now fully committed to her game. "I have information about your little project on Lothal. I won't leak it out to the others and I won't involve Minister Tua, though I already have set the means to do so, if something were to happen to me."

Kallus sneered at that, but kept quiet.

"I won't do so if you accept my conditions," she said simply.

"What do you want?" he spat out, glaring at her.

"I'm going to be here for a while," she admitted to him. "I don't know how long I'll be stuck here for this assignment, but I need something to stop me from being bored. For the duration of my stay…why don't you agree to be my slave?"

She expected his bronze eyes flashing angrily, and for him to start towards her in anger. Gathering her calm and trying not to be nervous, she focused on the Force and successfully held him in place. Well, well. Looks like she found incentive and a practice target for her when she needed to practice all the Force stuff she had to learn, especially things like what she just did and usually had trouble doing.

"It's either that or that project goes out of your hands," Ezra dramatically sighed, glancing at him. "It'll be in private, so don't worry. In your office, some mornings, some lunch, sometimes after academy days…Well?"

She let go of Kallus, but he still looked disgruntled. However, to her surprise, he nodded jerkily, though he still glared at her.

"Very well. I accept your terms," he growled angrily.

"Fantastic!" she clapped her hands once in excitement. "We'll start tomorrow morning. I'd like to have a few meilooruns as breakfast, if you don't mind."

"You're a local. You know fair well that meilooruns don't grow on Lothal and are rare around here," he snapped at her.

She waved her hand dismissively. "And I know even better that you Imperials import them here, so save a few for me, won't you? It should be easy for you, considering who you are."

"Fine," his lips pressed into a firm line. "Are we done?"

"Finished," she said cheerfully. "Go on and do whatever you need to do."

He turned to stride away from her, and she watched him carefully, almost like a Loth-wolf towards the prey it hunted.

* * *

"Oh, I heard you guys have your own pool!" Miss Dume –Ezra exclaimed, excitedly gazing at it.

Valen shrugged, trying to be nonchalant. "Yeah…the teachers have two pools. One for the females and the other for males. They're closed at night though."

"Oh," she said more despondently.

"I-I could take you tonight," he blushed, before thinking that this was a bad idea.

Ever since he'd met her, he didn't act like himself. Blushing, smiling, eager…those were things that he didn't do. And yet…with her…he felt right at home.

"Really?" she asked in surprise, happier than just a second ago.

"Y-yeah. Sure."

And that was how, on the very first night of his first meeting with her, he ended up sneaking her into the men's inside pool, hoping that Weylen pulled through for him and looped the video feed in there.

"So, um, this is the men's pool," he mumbled idiotically.

She looked around and began taking off her clothes, dressing down to baby blue underwear. Diving into the pool, she giggled and swam around.

"Don't just stand there! Come on in," she smiled widely at him.

"I-I'm not wearing anything I can swim in," he muttered, feeling like knocking himself on the head for wearing one of his suits he had to wear for the academy when he knew they would be going to the pool.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "So? I'm swimming in my underwear. Just swim in your clothes."

When he hesitated, she turned her back to him and began swimming the other way. Biting his lip, he jumped into the cold pool, suit and all. He swam towards her, floating gently beside her as she stopped and grinned at him.

"See? It wasn't that bad."

He hesitantly smiled back at her.

"Now for your reward," she murmured, grabbing his hand and leading it underwater. He gulped as he felt her hand lead his to her hips, sliding it under her panty's side and helping him pull it down.

Pecking his lips lightly, she smiled.

"You can keep those…and watch me swim around with just a bra."

She floated away from him and then began to swim.

He gaped, his hand clutching onto the baby blue panty he'd glimpsed only just earlier.

Started 8/6/09 –Completed 8/7/09  
Revised 1/30/15 – Completed 2/1/15


	2. Collar Rules

Ezra hummed happily, her fingers dancing on the soft material of the chair she sat in. It was nice. Comfy, even. She could see how Kallus wouldn't mind sitting at his desk for hours on end, just working away.

But that was boring.

"Another," she murmured, and tilted her head back and opened her mouth, blissfully biting into the slice of the meiloorun that Kallus stiffly fed to her. She let her tongue quickly dart out and swipe against his gloved fingers, looking up at him with hooded cobalt eyes.

A brief look of uneasiness crossed his face, before it became neutral once more. But Ezra had already managed to see the lapse in his façade, and she inwardly grinned to herself. Just a man after all, Mister Big Bad Agent…

A week since she started this assignment and the Imperial Academy, and she still couldn't get over how much she could actually get under Kallus' skin, or how eager Valen was to be near her.

Surprised, of course. Inordinately pleased as well. But most of all, Ezra was having the time of her life, despite being stuck in the Imperial Academy and with this assignment she had originally wanted nothing to do with.

"The Imperial Headquarters is located right next door," she mentioned to him, leaning back in his chair and gesturing to her legs.

Kallus, in the butler suit she managed to find and give to him, scowled, but said nothing as he wiped his hands and then came over to kneel by her legs and start to massage them.

"Why do you have this office when you have that huge one in the Headquarters? I mean, this place is nice and all…but that one had a great view and everything."

His head snapped up as he glared at her fiercely, his hands unconsciously tightening around her legs rather painfully.

"How do you know what my office there looks like?" he practically snarled.

Unfazed and not letting any hint of pain cross her face, she simply tapped his shoulder and pointed at her feet.

"A little less tight, and maybe move on to my feet," she said calmly.

Her calves were feeling a bit of pain from the rough treatment, so she thought that they should be left alone for now. Unfortunately, though she hadn't wanted to show any hint of pain at all, her legs were already forming slight bruises. And as she had only wanted to make him move to a new target, instead she'd managed to point out the bruises. He surprisingly looked chagrined, and his hands were careful as they moved onto her feet, slipping off her shoes and socks.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, surprising her again.

Instead of answering back to that, she focused on the answer to his question.

"I infiltrated the Imperial Academy before, in the Stormtrooper program instead though. Remember Dev Morgan? I was 'him' and I snuck into your office one time."

She heard a quiet snort. "Of course you did," he was muttering still.

Ezra didn't deign him with an answer, but she did let herself continue to enjoy his gentle hands work the knots from her feet and lessening her stress.

* * *

She was standing under the spray of hot water from the showerhead, glistening against her skin. Valen's eyes trailed over each drop of moisture, drinking up the sight hungrily. Already, he could feel himself hardening and when she beckoned him closer, he did not hesitate a moment.

"For your reward," she purred, and her slender fingers slowly began unbuttoning his dress shirt that had already clung to him because of the water above them.

She moved his dress shirt away from his chest, leaning forward and planting lingering kisses on his bare skin. Her tongue darted out and he shivered from the feel of it on his chest, even more when it touched upon one of his nipples.

When he leaned forward urgently to kiss her, he slammed against the wall and he blinked slowly, realizing resignedly that he'd been daydreaming in his shower. Looking down, he also realized that his manhood had hardened just as much as it had during his daydream, and he took care of himself before he finished his shower.

Strangely, despite his new frustration, he was looking forward to this school year. Heck, and only a week's passed already.

Eagerly heading to Homeroom, he was surprised but happy to see Ezra already there and that they were all alone.

"Hey, Mr. Rudor! You're early!" she grinned at him.

"I, uh, was looking forward to seeing you again," he awkwardly grinned back, feeling out of sorts, as was the usual when he was with her.

"Aw, aren't you sweet? Hey, I have something for you," she rummaged through her book bag before finally taking out a sleek black collar, his name engraved in an elegant dark blue scrawl, boldly emblazoned on the front.

His face turned red and he looked uncertainly at her, "For…me?"

She nodded enthusiastically, "I figure, I'd have your name on the front –by the way, blue's your color, right? –and then on the inside I could say you were my property. At least, it won't be so obvious and if anyone sees the collar, they would think it was some kind of new accessory. You have a lot of high collar shirts, right? You could wear it underneath also."

"Well, um, my collar's short right now," he hesitated, wary about wearing such an obvious thing around others and knowing they'd see it and wonder about it.

He saw her start to turn cool again, so he quickly leaned forward and bared his neck. It was just a collar after all.

"It's just a new accessory," he reassured her quickly. "One I got…from a friend. I'm wearing it so I don't offend her. My sister," he corrected, seeing an odd look pass her face for an instant. He really wanted to avoid saying 'he' or else he knew there would be rumors of him being gay before the day was even over. And with his usual reaction to Ezra, he very much doubted that.

She didn't move for a while, his neck starting to ache from the position, but then she took the collar and fit it snugly around him, adjusting it so his name was at the front.

"It fits perfectly. Did you measure me somehow?" he joked, chuckling slightly as he straightened up.

"Yup," she answered him in a blasé fashion.

He almost gaped at her and decided that he didn't want to know right then. He was already knee deep in this weird setup with her. Anything else was just simply going to make him go crazier than he probably already was.

"Um, should you go to your seat now? Class will be beginning soon and other students will be coming in…" he said reluctantly, not really wanting her to leave him.

She observed him through dark eyes, before smirking and nodding. She tapped his nose playfully.

"I'll give you your reward after class."

"My…reward?" Valen asked breathily.

"You're wearing the collar for me. That deserves a reward. I'm wearing side-tied panties. You can pull on the string as your reward. Isn't that enough for you?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Y-yes!" Valen said a little too loudly.

His hands were itching for his reward already, twitching once towards her before he snatched them back and shoved his hands into his pockets. It was embarrassing how eager he always was around her, and how much he practically acted like a teenager.

When class was over and she was in his office, she lifted up one side of her skirt, revealing the panty's ties on that side. He couldn't help just sitting in his seat, almost dazed at the sight.

"Go on ahead," she said amusedly, watching him stare at it, mesmerized.

"Okay then. I'll just go ahead," he mumbled, already reaching for the tie.

In a quick movement, he'd pulled the string and part of her panty was falling off, only barely staying on because of the other side. But he could see a clear glimpse of her private place from under the dark shade given from her lifted skirt.

"You're hard again," she noted.

"Y-yeah," it was all he could say, his eyes drawn to the area and completely speechless.

"Is this enough?"

"Yes," he smiled softly at her, a smile actually without the usual hint of awkwardness or any other clue to show he wasn't used to smiling kindly.

"Alright," and she began retying the strings. "I'll see you later, Mr. Rudor."

The door closed behind her and his hands immediately went to his pants' button and zipper.

* * *

"Hey, uh, V-man," Weylen greeted him, strangely without the usual annoying enthusiasm he had. "Nice collar. Everyone's been talking about it at one point."

Valen ignored him, continuing to eat in his office and wishing Ezra would be there. He guiltily recalled the incident with her side-tied panties, and tried to push the image aside, lest he embarrass himself in front of his teacher's aide.

"Valen, when you asked me to loop the video in the men's pool, I accidently saw you," his teacher's aide said in a rush.

He froze up and slowly turned to face Weylen, who was looking back regretfully. Valen was hoping this was all a dream, but the longer he stared, the longer it seemed reality wanted to slap him in the face.

"It wasn't caught on video or anything, but I saw the actual feed," Weylen hurriedly attempted to fix the situation.

He stayed silent, still staring with a caught wide-eyed stare and feeling absolutely numb.

Weylen licked his lips nervously. "Ezra, huh? Wow, you lucky man."

Jealousy immediately flashed through him and he frowned angrily at Weylen. "What do you mean by that?" he snapped at the other.

"Woah, relax! She's…attractive.  _Way attractive_ …but not my type," he admitted quietly, and Valen only relaxed a fraction.

Valen gestured for him to continue, and Weylen winced before complying.

"I like Priya. I'm  _with_  Priya."

Valen drew a blank so Weylen clarified, shrugging helplessly.

"She's one of your students, the oldest in class. Priya Tsetsang. She, Ezra, Victor, and some others are all friends in a group."

Sighing, Valen took off his collar and tossed it to Weylen, who examined it and eventually found the silver engraved words "Property of Ezra." His eyebrows shot up for more than one reason.

"Well, well. Didn't expect something like this from her. It looks nice and even expensive…she must be really taken with you," Weylen whistled.

"I wish," Valen muttered unthinkingly, glaring off to the side and feeling hopeless.

"Trust me, Valen. I've heard from Priya that Ezra isn't one to get so attached. She's collaring you. That means she wants to own you and keep you all to herself," Weylen stared at him in awe.

"For now. What if she decides to not bother with me the next day or the next day?" Valen glowered and leaned back wearily in his chair.

"You really like her, don't you? It's strange. I've never seen you worked up over someone like this," he commented in surprise.

"I've never liked someone the way I do her. I just…it was like an instant reaction," Valen muttered, inwardly sighing.

Weylen leaned back as well, folding his arms behind his head and sporting a wry grin. "Here's to us lucky and yet unfortunate teachers in relationships with hot students."

"We're so screwed," Valen muttered, reaching into his drawer and drawing out a bottle of whiskey and two shot glasses. "To take the edge off, because I don't think I can last the entire day without thinking about her and getting a hard-on."

"Here, here," Weylen agreed, taking his empty glass and holding it up to wait for it to be filled.

"And give me my collar back," Valen growled. "I want it. She gave it to me."

Weylen blinked before snickering. "Man, she totally owns you."

"Happy to be owned," and Valen drank his shot in one go.

The day passed by slowly, with only the occurrence of him staring discreetly at Ezra during Mechanics Practical, and then he was in his office. He didn't know if she would come to him or if he would see her at all, but he didn't have anything to lose.

Fortunately, she did come to him after all.

"Hey, you look lonesome," she smiled brightly at him.

He shrugged, but gave a small smile. "I am. Better now that you're here."

She rolled her eyes and sat herself comfortably on his desk.

"Weylen…knows about us," he said suddenly.

"Your teacher's aide," Ezra murmured, looking thoughtful.

"Yes…" he reaffirmed hesitantly.

Ezra brushed it off, "He's with Priya. I doubt he'd say anything."

Valen blinked at the information that she knew about those two, but figured that Priya probably would have said something to her.

"He seemed relieved, so I don't think he'll say anything either," he added.

"Besides, neither of you will get in trouble anyway. If you were found out," Ezra said mysteriously.

He looked at her curiously, but she just lay back on his desk.

"The school trip will be soon. It'll last for two weeks," she said from out of nowhere.

"Oh. I hate those things. I never volunteer for school activities," Valen automatically confessed.

He saw her slightly tense before relaxing again, this time with that cold gaze. He stiffened up and already started to feel bad and wanted to take what he said back.

"I see. Too bad," she looked away from him.

"But I'll go this time if you want me to," he said in a rush.

She didn't answer him, gazing at his ceiling with a hard gaze.

' _I don't want to be_ _ **boring**_ _. Don't be bored with me already.'_

He saw Weylen's leash for his dog neatly piled on the floor next to the desk and he took it, clipping it to his collar. Holding the other end of the leash, he shuffled closer to her, holding himself prostrate next to her laid out figure on the desk. Obediently holding up the leash to her, he bowed his head.

"I'm sorry. I really do want to go, especially if you're going."

He clenched his jaw several times, waiting nervously for any reaction that might come from her. When a minute had gone by and still nothing, he started to feel depressed. But then soft fingers lightly touched his hand, sliding passed it to take the leash from him, yanking twice gently. He looked up to see that she'd turned on her side to face him, one arm curled to pillow her head as the other held his leash and was petting his hair affectionately.

"This isn't yours…" she murmured softly in amusement.

Valen shrugged embarrassedly. She gave him a tender smile and laughed low.

"If you really want a leash, I'll get you one that matches your collar at least."

* * *

She'd continued petting his hair for a while, neither moving from their position. He stayed sitting on his haunches next to her, ignoring the ache in his legs from the position and the ache in his neck for his bowed head. But she was petting him, touching him…so he was happy and ready to suffer for that.

And the next day, he eagerly signed up to be a supervisor for the trip. He ignored the whispers and amazed looks, because it was all worth it.  _She_  was worth it.

"You look like a Loth-cat that ate a Loth-rat," Weylen commented with a grin.

"Mmhm," Valen answered in a daze.

"And I heard you signed up to supervise the trip to Garel."

"Oh…is that where we're going?" Valen continued to sound and look dazed.

"…Can I guess that all of this has something to do with Ezra?"

"She's going to go…I want to be with her," the Baron muttered, twitching in irritation at his aide as he became more aware of his surroundings.

"Man, have I said how collared she has you?"

"Stupid pun, Weylen. Really stupid. Are you going? I hear Miss Tsetsang will be coming along," Valen asked curiously.

Weylen smiled anxiously, "Yeah. I wanted to spend some time with her, and since students practically have free reign and the teachers don't exactly have to shadow them all or keep to a group…"

Valen's eyes glazed over, "Ezra…me…all alone…"

The brunet snickered, "I can see your mind's gone to the gutter."

Valen snapped out of it, glaring at the younger male.

"That's not just it. I want to spend time with her. Just her…and no interruptions…maybe a real date…"

Weylen shook his head, "Good luck then. Oh and Agent Kallus is coming. Just so you know."

Valen cursed aloud.

"Hey, uh, Valen…have you seen my leash for my dog?"

"…"

* * *

Ezra was pretty pleased with herself, hearing and seeing so much talk revolving around Valen's collar. And shying a bit a times, Valen did eventually begin to walk around with it proudly. It made her the slightest bit fond of the guy, even if he was Imperial scum.

"You look pleased," she heard Kallus speak up behind her, and she turned to find him drop a box next to his desk.

"Maybe I am," she said slyly.

"May I ask why?" he asked dryly in return.

She rolled her eyes. "I've decided I like collars," she announced happily.

For some reason, that stopped him short and he stared at her in scrutiny. "Does this have anything to do with Rudor's new accessory people won't stop talking about?"

Ezra blinked, having not expected him to ask outright or link her declaration immediately to Valen's collar. Didn't coincidences exist anymore?

"Yeah, maybe. Why?"

He frowned at her. "Did you give it to him?"

Both of her eyebrows raised, but she shrugged in nonchalance.

"Yeah, maybe I did. What's it got to do with you?"

"Why would you give something like that to him? How do you two even know each other?" he continued to grill her.

Ezra started frowning as well. "If you think he's part of the crew or something, or involve with me in some kind of scheme against the Empire or whatever, you're totally off the mark. He's a loyal prick to the Empire…Like you."

Though his frown deepened at her insult, he was still looking at her intensely.

She huffed. "He's my toy. Like you're my slave. You serve me and I get to 'play' with him."

Already bored with the conversation, Ezra turned sideways on his comfy chair and lay sprawled on it, feeling like maybe resting for a bit.

She completely missed the darkening of Kallus' eyes as he watched her closely.

Started 8/9/09 – Completed 8/10/09  
Revised 2/4/15 – Completed 2/4/15


	3. Their Hearts Are Haunting

Kallus' hands pressed against the temples of her head, and she sighed. Her eyebrows had furrowed together. Despite how good it felt or how well he was doing, her head wouldn't stop pounding. It had started long before Homeroom, around the time she left her place to head to the academy, and hadn't lessened at all since.

"You don't look well," he noted.

She stiffened up, and opened her eyes. Staring up at him, she frowned.

"Just a headache," she brushed him off, not willing to admit anything to him. It would be her luck if he was fishing for anything to use against her anyway. "Hence, the head massage."

He kept quiet, but his neutral face wasn't revealing anything to her like always either. Instead, she closed her eyes again and leaned back, trying to focus on the hands on her head.

"You should refrain from attending school today," he surprisingly continued on. "You don't seem to be in a well enough condition."

"Don't be so concerned," she murmured lethargically, not up to being riled up and fighting. "It would benefit you after all, if I collapsed."

"…Just because my name sounds like it, does not mean I could be so callous."

Ezra felt her lips curl into a mocking smirk, her face twisting in disbelief.

"That's hilarious, Agent Kallus. If I recall, you wiped out the entire race of Lasats by ordering the use of disruptors. If  _that_ isn't callous, I don't know what is. In fact, callous understates it," she had to dig in, especially for Zeb.

Her eyes snapped opened, cobalt irises staring at him in accusation.

His face was like stone however, but if she looked deep into his eyes, she could imagine she saw a hidden depth of remorse. But it was probably just her imagination after all.

"There were mitigating circumstances to that," he said quietly, but she didn't look away from him. "I made the order. I chose my men, and I chose what I needed to do to end the fighting quickly. I chose the side I aligned with, and to do my job. I chose the quickest, most efficient action to achieve my goals. The horrors afterwards were the 'rewards' I had to reap."

"Then why go after Zeb?" she pushed him away, glaring full force at him then.

He stared blankly at her. "He is a reminder of my greatest mistake. Taking him out of existence means I no longer have to see him and remember those days."

Ezra stared back at him, before shaking her head, surprising him with the soft smile she gave.

"Ghosts don't work like that, Agent Kallus. If you've got demons inside, ghosts on your back…they don't just disappear. They haunt you forever."

She pushed herself off his chair and left his office without another word. There was only so much she could say left anyway, and the silence in his room would probably be enough.

* * *

Valen fingered the collar around his neck, tugging at it in nervousness. In his office, he stared at Ezra, who was browsing around in curiosity –much like she had when she had been in the staff room and had asked to see him jerk off.

"Can you get me a mineral water from the grocery store?" she asked suddenly.

He blinked. "Uh, my next class will be starting soon, Ezra…"

She stared at him before turning away.

He twitched. ' _She's playing with me to pass time, and_ _ **she's**_ _angry?'_

"I'll be right back. Just wait for me here," he said in exasperation, inwardly sighing.

He rushed to the store, which was a block away, searching for a bottle of Calpis water. It was his favorite mineral water, so he thought it would be great to share something like that with her…

He blushed idiotically before hurrying back, knowing he was running late for his class and that Ezra would be late to hers as well if he didn't hurry.

When he got there, his class was already in their seats and talking rowdily to each other.

"Hey, Mr. Rudor! You're actually late for once?" Victor Wicker, one of Ezra's friends there, yelled, grinning at him.

He just nodded back. "I'll be right back and then we can start class."

He headed into his office and stared. She wasn't there. Biting his lip, he put the mineral water he'd bought into his mini-fridge before he resignedly went to start his class. Throughout the whole thing, inwardly he couldn't stop worrying about Ezra or even wondering if she was even more pissed off with him because he took so long.

The class ended and he heard the tell end of whispers about Ezra having to go to the academy's med bay because she'd fainted and collapsed in the hallway. Quickly rushing there since that had been his last class for the day, he bypassed Regor stealthily and searched for Ezra. He found her on the last bed, next to the window. Her back was to him, having her face the wall.

' _It must be all an act. She's just pretending to be angry.'_

"E-Ezra?" he called out hesitantly.

"Yes."

He winced. "I'm sorry I was late. I brought your water though."

"Thanks. Can you put it over there?" Her voice still sounded so cool with him.

"Are you…mad?" She wouldn't turn around to face him and she wouldn't say anything more than clipped sentences.

' _After I tried so hard…'_

"No."

He scowled. "No! I know you're pissed off because I didn't get back in time! So you're brushing off my hard work like it's nothing. I-it was the first time I've shirked off my duties! Do you know how hard that was for me? And I try so hard to please you! It's always all for you!"

"You mean you did it for a reward."

Valen paused, staring at her in shock and dawning horror and even guilt.

She started wiggling around under the covers, and without looking at him, lifted her leg up and he could see her underwear hanging off her ankle. She presented it to him before she used her ankle to toss her underwear off her ankle and onto the floor.

"For you."

He closed his eyes in desperation and guilt, kneeling down to snatch the underwear.

"Miss Dume? Are you awake?"

' _Druk! Regor's coming!'_

He started panicking until he felt a slender hand push his head down and pushed him closer to under the bed. He breathed a sigh of relief and crawled underneath it, just as Regor entered the curtained off bed. Ezra's legs appeared over the side, right in front of him.

"Miss Dume, your taxi's arrived. Are you okay? Hold onto my shoulder," Regor cautioned, helping Ezra up.

"Thank you."

"Are you sure you'll be okay going home by yourself? You don't want to go to the hospital?"

"I don't have my insurance card with me or even ready to use on Lothal, so I'll have to just go to my house."

' _She really was feeling sick…and yet here I was…'_

" _You did it all for a reward."_

' _She kept giving rewards like it was nothing and somewhere along the way I got the wrong idea. I got spoiled.'_

"I'm sorry," he kept whispering again and again.

The next day, Ezra didn't show up for class.

* * *

Leaving Valen's office, Ezra was going to head to class. She could feel her body start to feel tired and weighed down. Each step was taking its toll on her, and she (grudgingly) admitted that Kallus had been right and that she should have stayed home.

But she disliked staying by herself in the apartment the others had procured through Vizago for her. It was empty and cold…completely lonely. It reminded her of days before she ever met the Ghost crew, where she fended for herself and didn't have others to watch her back.

She also knew that she was sick and that's why she'd been kept on Lothal instead of going with the others, aside from Kanan making the decision to confront the Inquisitor decisively and not wanting her to be there.

_Kanan sat her down and looked at her solemnly, making her nervous. He tried to give a reassuring smile, but it faltered._

" _The others didn't want to tell you, but we're not leaving you on Lothal just for a long term assignment at the Imperial Academy. You're sick, Ezra. You caught something really bad on that planet, and we don't know what it is. We were hoping, as a student at their academy, they might be able to find out and cure you."_

_She frowned, but reluctantly agreed._

" _You'll take on my last name," Kanan told her._

_Ezra blinked. "Jarrus?"_

_He shook his head, confusing her. "No, my name before all this," he waved his hand through the air. "Before I was Kanan Jarrus, I was born Caleb Dume."_

_Without any further use arguing, Ezra nodded and sat there, listening to him detail the things she needed to do while there._

And now Ezra was stuck on Lothal with this indefinite assignment, her health degrading every moment she spent dawdling there. It wasn't like she could simply go to the Imperial Hospital. Her papers weren't ready –Vizago had to forge those still. They also weren't going to just accept her in and treat her; she'd have to be in an extreme state for them to willingly give her any aid, especially without the proper papers that would put her through inspection.

Noticing the crowd thinning, she quickly started to quicken her steps. However, she found her sight glazing over and she had to stop. Blinking rapidly, she waited for her sight to become clear again before attempting to walk again. A step forward, and she stumbled. Feeling her hands shake, she lifted one up and watched her fingers quiver. Taking a deep breath, she told herself to ignore it all and keep going.

A few steps later and her legs trembled and she fell forward, blacking out and only hearing the echoes of worried yells.

* * *

Kallus was sure there was something wrong with the girl. Her usually healthy skin was pale, and her bright eyes looked dulled that morning. She had immediately asked for him to massage her head, and that was all that he had to do. That also pointed out, to him, that her head must've been hurting for some reason.

It had bothered him the entire time she had been in his office, and sometime after she'd left. So much so, that he'd quickly left his office and was going to demand she at least rest in the academy's med bay for a little bit, even if he had to interrupt her class and drag her out of it to the med bay himself. Luckily for him, 1st block had yet to start, so he could catch her before she went to class. Knowing which classes she had, having looked her up in the system, he caught her before class and saw her in the middle of the hallway.

She looked odd, standing in the middle of it and not moving. She was just staring at her hand. She then started to walk forward, before he could visibly see her legs tremble and she fell. There were yells as she just lay prone on the floor, and before everyone left in the hallway could crowd around her, he rushed forward and knelt by her side. Kallus was quick to check her vitals, before scooping her up and begin carrying her to the med bay.

He  _knew_  it. He should have trusted his gut and forced her to the med bay as soon as he'd brought up her health in his office.

"Miss Scalesu, I have a student who needs help!"

He lay her down onto one of the beds, while Regor came quickly and started to check on her.

"What's wrong with her?" he demanded shortly, though he refused to acknowledge the concern that leaked into his voice.

"I'm not sure yet. I'll do some bloodwork, but for now, it seems she's just had a fainting spell," Regor said unsurely.

Kallus nodded and let her do the work, and when she left, Kallus pulled up a chair to Ezra's bedside and sat down.

"You're an infuriating girl," he murmured. "But you're surprisingly smart and…captivating."

He had never been sure of what to think about her. From the moment he met her, after having caught her from the band of rebels that first time, he'd been caught off guard by the cynicism by someone so young. He'd told her simply that she was to be used as bait, and she'd insulted him to emphasize how wrong she thought he was and to declare the nature of people as unreliable. That "no one does that."

Kallus had nothing to say to that, so he simply scrutinize her sincerity and then brushed off lint from her shoulder. He left her behind, uncertain of the girl he'd held in that cell.

He'd underestimated her though. He hadn't expected that she'd manage to sneak out by herself, and leave uncaught with the rebels that had proven her wrong in coming back for her. And to find out she was capable of using the Force…

But since then, he'd not focused on her. Keeping in mind the first meeting and interaction, Kallus had left her be and focused on the others. He would only admit to himself that the idea of fighting her, after the echoes of their first meeting repeatedly bothering him every time he came to see her, surprisingly repulsed him. It made him uncomfortable, so he'd instead viciously sought after the others, especially the Lasat.

And now she was here, in the Imperial Academy, at his mercy again…And having initially gotten him under  _her_  mercy.

Here she was, again getting under his skin and bothering him, haunting his thoughts like she had before…

"What are you hiding?" he murmured, gazing at her.

He would figure it out, one way or another.

* * *

Valen borrowed Weylen's phone, which actually had her number (Damn it! Did everyone have her number, but him?! Even that idiot Traves had her number!), and texted her whenever he could. The whole day, he distractedly monitored the phone and continued his trend of texting. When that didn't seem to be working, he bit his lip and wondered if he should call.

Would she answer?

' _I bet…she's tired of me.'_

Thinking she wouldn't answer a call from him, he called anyway and waited.

"What is it?" her tone was abrupt.

He froze up in shock and didn't say anything. He really hadn't thought she would answer…

"…"

"I-I didn't think you'd pick up," he said softly.

"Can you come over to my house right now?"

His eyes widened. "Y-YES!"

"I'll text you the directions."

Without thinking or even wondering why she would ask him over, he headed over there immediately. The only thing on his mind was the question ' _Was she still angry?_ '

At her apartment, he swallowed down his nervousness and knocked. He would just have to apologize the moment he saw her.

The door opened and her petite face appeared. He paused momentarily, unable to get his apology out, and she thrust a bag at him.

"Get this dried at the laundry."

Obediently, he turned around and went to go do just that. He came back and she handed him some money.

"Can you get me two cases of mineral water please?" and then shut the door again in his face.

He almost started pouting.

On his way back from the store, he was carrying the two cases almost easily in his arms, when a kid rushed passed him and he stumbled and fell, dropping the cases of mineral water.

"Watch it, you stupid kid!" he yelled, picking up a case and starting to get up to get the other. But he'd looked up and saw a speeder coming right at him. He flinched and closed his eyes, hearing brakes screeching.

Not feeling any pain, he opened his eyes and saw that the speeder had turned and missed him, ending up crushing the other case of water which had splashed all over him. He rushed back to the store in a panic, wanting to buy another case quickly. When he found out there weren't anymore, he felt like banging his head against a wall. Unhappily, he headed back to her apartment with only one case and a crushed box in hand.

"I'm sorry, Ezra. I fell and dropped the cases, and a speeder was heading towards me but ended up crushing the other case. The store didn't have any left, so I couldn't buy another either. I'm sorry. I wished the speeder had hit me instead," he said miserably.

"Don't be stupid. I'm just glad you're okay. Get in. We should get your clothes dried."

Confused but a little happy, Valen hesitantly walked in and looked around.

"You can't really walk around here in your underwear, so wear my gym shorts, okay?" Ezra told him as soon as he had taken off his clothes and was drying himself off. She handed him her gym shorts and he put them on, blushing and groaning inwardly when he felt himself hardened just a bit.

"You're hard?"

He winced, "It's just that…thinking about how you once wore these…I'm sorry for being so pathetic."

She sighed exasperatedly, but smiled at him. "Whatever. I'm used to seeing you hard anyway."

"Um…there's no one here and it looks like no one else lives here…do you live alone, Ezra?"

The dreary apartment, no matter how expensive or outfitted, seemed cold and lonely. There weren't any personal effects, nothing to say this was her home. There was no sign of living –something normal like clothes lying on the floor, or dishes and trash lying about. It looked nice…just not homey.

"Yeah," she answered him quietly. "Don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Of course."

But what he really wanted to ask was why did she live alone.

"Are you okay? I mean yesterday…" he anxiously asked.

"Hm, the famous words you couldn't get out to me yesterday in the nurse's office," her voice was teasing.

His face colored. "I'm sorry for being such a horrible person…"

"It's okay. I'm feeling better, but the drugs Nurse Scalesu gave me are making me feel groggy. That's why I had you run those errands for me. Thanks," Ezra gave him a rare gentle smile.

"You shouldn't thank me," he muttered. "I'm the one who should be thankful. You told me to get under the bed…" he took out a small paper bag and held it out. "Your underwear. I'm giving it back. I cleaned it and everything."

"Now that you've jerked off to it, it's useless?" Ezra raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"No! I didn't jerk off to it! I-I really wanted to smell it…to lick it…press it against my thing and wrap it around…I really wanted to do all of that…But something was off. Getting it that way…didn't satisfy my heart."

Ezra just watched him, an odd look in her eyes.

"Come here," she patted the spot next to her on the couch.

Nervously, he came closer, but she met him halfway. As he stood there, she kneeled on the couch and the tip of her tongue darted out to lick his nipple. He shivered and tried to keep from making any noise as she took his nipple into her mouth, sucking gently and flicking her tongue against it.

"Ngh," he couldn't help the sound, his head tilting back slightly and his eyes becoming half-lidded.

With a hand on his chest and the other wrapped around his waist, she didn't need to be holding him to her. He couldn't stay away.

When she finally pulled away, Valen's face was fully flushed and he was breathing rather heavily. She laughed lightly at him, and flopped back tiredly against the couch.

"Your reward for being so good to me lately, especially today," she said sleepily, eyes drooping. She gave him a small smile and patted the spot next to her again. "Can I sleep on you? S'tired and cold…"

Though he wanted to yell out a yes immediately, he considered her state and just quietly made his way next to her, sitting down and happily letting her practically lie on top of him as they adjusted on the couch and he lay down across it to accommodate her. She fell asleep in seconds, while he basked in the position and being able to hold onto her.

But he couldn't help but be worried about her and how she was, and wanted to ask how sick was she really?

* * *

Ezra was never really  _mad_  at Valen whenever he hesitated or failed to do something for her (she just knew being the slightest cold would get him to do it). In some parts, she wanted to bring him out of his comfort zone, making unusual or outrageous requests, and seeing if he'd do them for her, even if it meant it was things that he wasn't used to doing. She also partly wanted to see how far he would go, especially on her behalf. She also liked watching his reactions and seeing him squirm, and really did found it and him amusing and dare she say, adorable.

However, there was also that he was still, no matter what, an Imperial.

And Ezra was petty enough to use this opportunity and want to abuse her power over him, like all Imperials did over all the other people in the galaxy.

To be honest though, that part of her was lessening the more time she spent with Valen. He was like a puppy. He was just so eager and happy to be in her presence and do things for her, that she felt herself softening towards him and wanting to honestly "pat his head" in praise and give rewards.

She did wonder about her other troublesome Imperial though.

Kallus had been strange lately, but it wasn't like she could ever truly read him. He also seemed…kind almost towards her at times.

If she was being honest, this whole thing with those two might just be getting out of hand.

The day she'd been in school, she had gone to Homeroom miserably. However, seeing Valen's happy and almost shy look made her reluctantly happy and willing to stick it out. From there, she'd gone to Kallus' office and ordered for her head to be massaged, hoping to get rid of the headache she seemed plagued with. But then they'd had that…argument? Whatever it was, she'd left abruptly to Valen's office, with her head still aching terribly.

She'd asked Valen to get her mineral water because she was thirsty, and she'd been advised that it was the only drink that would help stabilize her condition somewhat. But he'd taken too long and she had to get to class, so she'd left. But then she collapsed in the hallway, and the next thing she knew, she was in the med bay and Nurse Scalesu was there and taking care of her, offering to call a taxi to take her back to her apartment for her to take a sick day. It wasn't too long after that, that Valen showed up and she'd been cold with him, though she knew he was struggling and then later trying his best to apologize. When she left him behind, she felt a tinge of remorse for her coldness, though she had tried to make it up by hiding him from the nurse.

She hadn't shown up to school that day, deeming herself unwell still. After calling in sick, she hadn't expected Val to persistently text her and then actually call her with Weylen's phone, though she was inordinately pleased when he showed up and had been as endearing as he had been.

Now as she lay on him, falling asleep peacefully, she thought that maybe she could be a little less harsh and cruel with him, and reward him a little more…

Started 7/15/12 – (Never finished)  
Revised 2/10/15 – Completed 2/11/15


	4. Dogs in the Yard

Kallus noted that Ezra was gone that day as well. It was currently lunchtime, and besides no sign of her, he'd checked the system and saw that she'd called in and wasn't coming in that day either. He wanted to know about the results of her bloodwork, but Regor hadn't been able to get anything other than noting irregularities and had then sent the rest of the blood sample to the Imperial Hospital. They'd yet to report anything back either, but it hadn't been that long since they'd gotten the sample anyway.

Unusually, he was actually in the staff lunch room for once. However, with the constant barrage of work from his duties trying to catch the rebels and the work he had to deal with here in the Academy (not to mention the reluctant stress and worry because of that irritant girl), he decided he needed a well-deserved coffee fix. Unfortunately, the only caffeine available to him now was here.

But as soon as Kallus stepped foot into the main staff room, his eyes were drawn to one figure. Coincidentally, Valen Rudor was also in the room and unfortunately also where the coffee maker was. Kallus' eyes then drifted to the man's neck.

Ah. The infamous collar.

So that's what it looked like…Kallus felt his lips curl into a sneer and he disdainfully made his way closer. With a slight thud, his thermos hit the table and alerted the other loudly to his presence.

"A-Agent Kallus," Rudor hesitantly greeted.

Kallus looked over the other indifferently. "Baron Rudor," he drawled.

"It's not really a formal occasion and you're of higher rank," Rudor muttered in embarrassment, turning back to fixing his coffee in his mug. Kallus poured some into his thermos, staying quiet. "You don't really have to call me that," Rudor ended lamely.

Kallus idly grabbed the sugar cubes and dropped two of them simply into his thermos.

"As higher rank, are you implying that means I'm…superior to you?" the agent continued on blithely.

Rudor balked and stared at Kallus strangely.

"What? No –yes –what exactly are you meaning, sir?" Rudor side-stepped the answer, not just confused, but not wanting to take a hit to his pride and not wanting to offend either.

Kallus inwardly smirked.

Instead of answering, Kallus continued his snide remarks. "That's an interesting neck accessory you have there, Rudor."

The younger man's hand flew up to the collar and Rudor gave him an anxious look.

"Um, yeah. My sister gave it to me," the man was almost mumbling.

"Your sister, hm," Kallus' eyes stayed fixated on the collar. "It's an odd gift a sister would give."

"She's kind of odd," Rudor twitched.

Kallus found the vanilla liquid creamer bottle and poured his preferred amount into his coffee, mixing it then.

"It looks silly," Kallus then said, causing Rudor to bristle and unconsciously grip tightly onto the collar.

The pilot then angrily went back to his coffee, finding the sugar and blindly grabbing a handful, dumping it into his coffee.

"Thank you for your opinion,  _sir_."

The ISB Agent calmly continued to stir his coffee, even though it didn't really need it anymore.

"In fact, it's rather tacky," Kallus continued, and Rudor grabbed more sugar and practically threw it into his coffee. "And a little cheap. I suppose your sister didn't have much money or cared to spend too much money on you."

"She did too!" Rudor snapped, finally turning to him and glaring heatedly. "I know she did!"

Kallus fixed a bored look on his face. "You don't have to lie. I'm sure your sister is enjoying her prank on you. The collar seems more like a gag gift after all."

Rudor snatched the tub of powder creamer and looked like he was ready to throw it at Kallus' head. Then he stopped and went back to his coffee mug, taking huge even breaths as he tried to scoop some of the powder creamer into his coffee.

So he was going to try to ignore Kallus, was he?

"Then again, it wouldn't look so tacky…on the right person," Kallus murmured, taking a sip of his coffee.

Rudor froze, accidentally spilling some of the creamer and the powder dousing the man's shirt and the table.

Kallus stuck to the new direction he decided to hit Rudor with.

"I'm sure your… _sister_ ," he emphasized 'sister', "would prefer someone a little more capable of wearing her mark."

Rudor took a huge inhale of breath, slowly turning his head to watch Kallus warily but also angrily.

"I think it makes me a little ill to think a girl like her is wasting her time with someone like you."

Kallus grabbed the cover of his thermos and screwed it back on smoothly, and just as smoothly walked away and left the pilot behind.

* * *

The  _nerve_  of that man! Valen swore up and down that he was just barely holding himself back from decking the haughty agent. If it hadn't meant him being arrested for insubordination and hitting a higher-ranked officer, he would have let himself.

He was so agitated right now. The canister of creamer was in his hands, and he was so angry he hadn't even noticed that he was unhappily scooping creamer into his coffee over and over again in his agitation. When he finally put the creamer away in frustration, he took a sip of his coffee and then spat it out, gagging right after.

"Ugh!"

He dumped his coffee and furiously poured a new cup, fixing it up right this time. When he turned from the coffee table, he saw there were groups of the other teachers watching him wide-eyed at the other tables in the staff room. Glaring at them, he held onto his mug and stormed out of there.

By the time he'd reached his office, he was completely fuming and hadn't calmed down at all. He went to his desk and sat down with a huff, but then noticed his phone had a message. Grabbing at it and finding the message, he lit up like a lightbulb.

_Ezra_  had texted him.

He read the message again and gained a goofy smile, his mood turning a complete 180 from just moments ago.

_You got my number now so stop moping about that._

If he started giggling idiotically to himself, that was his business. And he was in his office anyway.

Besides! He finally got her number. And he got it through  _her_  texting  _him_. She texted him! He didn't know what was his favorite part of this. That he'd gotten her number after all this time, that he'd gotten a text from her, or that she actually decided to send him a text at all.

Frag that stupid ISB Agent. To hell with Kallus and who cared about him.

But Valen was still a little uneasy about the ending of their conversation, as much as it still infuriated him as well. The way Kallus talked seemed to indicate that he knew that Valen's 'sister' wasn't his sister, and had implied his own interest in 'her' himself.

"Whatever," he muttered to himself and went back to staring at his phone blissfully.

Not too long after though, his teacher's aide hesitantly knocked and came in, watching him in confusion since Valen was still staring dazedly at his phone.

"You don't look nearly as angry as earlier, so I'm guessing you've cooled down?"

"Only when I'm not thinking about that sleemo," Valen said, not taking his eyes off his phone.

"What's so fascinating?" Weylen raised his eyebrows.

"I got a text. From Ezra," and Valen's goofy grin came back.

Weylen peeked over his shoulder and blinked. "This came like an hour ago, and it's short. And you've been here a bit, just staring at it, for however long after you found it. It's not normal, man."

Valen finally pulled away, glaring at Weylen as he did so. "What do you want?"

"What's up with earlier?" he asked Valen curiously. "You know, with Agent Kallus and all. Everyone's talking about it. No one could hear what you two were saying, but everyone could see you two were having an argument."

"Argument," Valen mocked, glaring at his desk now. "Yeah, right. He was just being an asshole and throwing snide comments since he'd got to my side. I don't even know what his problem is."

But then he hesitated and Weylen noticed. "What?" he prodded the pilot.

Valen frowned. "I don't know. It kind of seemed like he had a problem with my collar."

"Well, it's not like the collar is with regulation," Weylen pointed out.

"Yeah, but it was different somehow," and Valen reluctantly recounted the comments the agent had made, even the ones at the end.

His teacher's aide couldn't help snickering a bit. "Sounds like he's jealous. Maybe he wants a collar too?"

But that made Valen feel uneasy again. "It sounded like he knows Ezra and that it was her that gave the collar to me. Well, not in so many words. But he did sound like he knew my 'sister' didn't give the collar to me and he didn't think I was worthy of wearing it for the person who really did. Or that 'she' was wasting her time with me, and the thought of that made him 'ill.'"

Weylen gave him a sympathetic look. "When you put that all together, it does become worrying. I mean, especially if he can make that judgment at the end and say he thinks she's wasting her time and all. And when you put it like that, it sounds even more likely he knows there's no sister involved and probably knows about Ezra."

Which worried Valen even more because he didn't want to get Ezra in trouble.

"You think he really knows about her?" Valen asked anxiously. "I don't want her getting into trouble or him giving her problems."

"I don't know," Weylen said. "I'm leaning towards a yeah though. And I don't know if she'd be in trouble. Sounds like Agent Kallus knows, and might've even known for a while. If he has, and hasn't said or done anything to either of you –well, you until now –then maybe he might not do anything at all."

"Well, all he has done is throw jerky comments my way," Valen grumbled.

"Maybe that's all the punishment he's decided he'd do," Weylen shrugged. "He seems like a strange guy, and would do something strange like that."

Valen snorted.

"Heh, maybe he doesn't really want to get either of you in trouble. Maybe it's not about regulations and the law or whatever," Weylen cracked a grin. "Maybe he  _is_  jealous…e-especially if he does know Ezra. It would make sense…" he dropped the grin, realizing that actually wouldn't be too funny, especially for his companion.

And then Valen was feeling very, very uneasy and unhappy, and had the urge to storm into Agent Kallus' office and demand some answers.

Completely irritated now, he unlatched the collar around his neck and threw it onto his desk.

"I haven't even gotten something to eat," Valen huffed.

"We still got some time," Weylen let him know.

Valen ran a hand through his hair, before getting up and leading the way. He was hungry, irritable, and just wanted the day to be over. Through the rest of lunch, he made quick work of the food he'd hurriedly grabbed, before deciding it was best to head back. He and Weylen split ways near his office, with the other having to do office work.

As he came back into his office when class was about to start, he blinked and stared in horror at his desk.

His collar was missing.

* * *

Ezra flipped through the channels in boredom. There was nothing on and she was stuck not just in her apartment but in bed.

That's why she was surprised and confused when she heard her doorbell ring.

Getting up, she cautiously went to her door and peered at the monitor, even more surprised to see Kallus on the other side. When she opened the door, he immediately looked to her, his face as impassive as always.

"Agent Kallus, didn't expect you here," she said warily. "How did you know where I live?"

He stepped into her home when she stepped aside, quickly glancing around and observing what he could in that moment before he returned his attention to her.

"Your address is in the system," he said succinctly.

She rolled her eyes, closing the door behind him. "Of course. And you obviously have access to the system."

She wasn't sure, but she was almost certain that she saw a brief smirk flitter onto his lips for a second.

"To what do I owe the honor of your visit then?" she asked, meaning to be more sarcastic but coming off more tired.

She hadn't expected the little movement she'd done to be so tiring. All she'd done so far was travel from her bedroom to the door of her apartment, and then opened and closed the door. Now she was ready to just let herself fall on the floor and lay down, and refuse to move any further.

"You don't look so well," Kallus noted familiarly, but she just waved him off. Instead, she eyed the nearby couch.

She took a few steps towards it, but unfortunately her steps were wobbly and she had to stop. She was caught off guard when strong, muscled arms scooped her up from behind, and then she was being carried.

"I'm fine!" she hit his shoulder, but her lack of strength did nothing (well, even if she was at full strength, she doubted she could do anything against him anyway).

"Where's your room?" he asked, ignoring her.

Slightly pouting, she pointed at a certain door, and he brought her in there, finding her bed and laying her on it. It was almost gentle the way he handled her, slipping her under the covers and even tucking her in a little.

"What are you sick of?" he asked, and she was surprised that he'd asked, much less that there was actually a note of concern in his voice.

"I don't know," she said honestly, feeling even more tired. "We couldn't figure it out. I was just…really sick one day and it wouldn't go away. They left me here so I could go to this stupid school and get help, but you all are stupid Imperial sleemo and nothing's helping and I don't know what's wrong still or if anyone will know what's wrong – "

She really wasn't sure what she was saying anymore. She was just rambling tiredly, and saying things. Her eyelids felt heavy and it wasn't like her vision was all that straight anyway.

"Go to sleep," he ordered.

"You're demanding for a slave," she snarked sleepily. "What are you doing here?" she asked again.

"You just said it," he rolled his eyes. "I'm your slave. I already took a day off yesterday, hence why I'm back to work today."

"Don't get sarcastic with me," she barely repressed a yawn. "If you're going to be a proper slave, act more like it."

"Yes, Master," he said monotonously.

She tried to head butt him, but just managed to pathetically throw herself forward and end up landing half on his lap.

"Okay, bad move. Now I'm too tired to move."

Sighing in exasperation, Kallus moved her back into position and re-tucked her in. Then he sat on the bed by her side, looking over her in scrutiny.

"Go to sleep," he said again, but less demanding.

"I don't want to," she muttered, even as her eyes threatened to close. "You'll kill me in my sleep."

His hand drifted to her neck and closed around it slightly, squeezing just a bit. Her eyes opened and she stared at him.

"I've had plenty of opportunities to kill you," he said dryly. "I'm not going to kill you now."

She frowned, but closed her eyes and somehow fell asleep quickly.

By that point, the agent looked her over, but couldn't see what was wrong with her externally. Taking out his comlink, he contemplated contacting his subordinates and asking for a report, but deemed it unnecessary. Instead, he reached for his phone and contacted the hospital, demanding to speak to the doctor in charge of Ezra's case.

"Agent Kallus? I apologize for the wait. What can I do for you?"

Kallus tapped his fingers impatiently on his thigh. "About a recent case brought to your attention –I want to be informed of any new information as it develops. Currently, is there anything you've found out yet?"

The doctor cleared his throat anxiously. "That is to say, we don't have much yet. We know it's not contagious, but so far we've had no luck narrowing down a diagnosis. Any common ailment is out for sure, but that leaves us to continue to search for what the disease could be."

Kallus frowned. "Very well. Make it a top priority to find out what it is."

After hanging up on the doctor, he gazed at the sleeping girl, finding that she looked frail. In some ways, he was reminded of the cynical, bitter girl in the cell of the Lawbringer, when they'd first met. Tired and weary of the world, but now she was also tired and weary through this illness.

Reaching into his bag, he brought out the various medicines that Regor had asked him to bring to Ezra, supplying temporary cures that would hopefully minimize whatever symptoms she was plagued with and give her short-term relief.

He placed them neatly on her bed stand, before looking into the mini-fridge next to it and saw it was packed with mineral water. Wondering at the amount of the choice of drink, he left them be and thought she would prefer to drink the medicines down with cold water instead of something lukewarm. He reached into the bag again, intent on grabbing the things he'd brought to make a meal, when he touched upon the collar he'd taken off of Rudor's desk.

Taking it out of the bag, he read the inscription inside the collar.

_Property of Ezra_

He scoffed and briefly sneered. Tossing it back into the bag, he reached in again and grabbed what he needed before heading to where her kitchen was, leaving her bedroom door open so he could listen for any trouble.

For some reason, the collar really grated on his nerves.

* * *

Valen had been too ashamed to visit Ezra after school had ended, given his missing collar. He didn't even know why he'd taken it off. Kallus' words didn't bother him to the point that he was ashamed of it or anything, no matter how pissed off he'd been at the man's words.

The collar hadn't been silly or tacky or-or cheap at all to him! In fact, strange as it was, the collar actually really meant a lot to him, and was important to Valen. And the comments after, with Kallus saying someone else deserved it and all, should've made him even more protective of it and definitely not wanting to take it off.

But he had and now it was missing.

Miserably moping in his office of the next day, he was just waiting for class to start and face the music. He was actually hoping Ezra was still staying at home, which made him feel guilty and even worse.

Damn it,  _someone_ had to have taken it. It had been left on his clean desk, out in the open, not just tossed aside and could be lost…

Someone had taken it. Someone –

Regardless of class about to start soon, Valen furiously stood up and determinedly went out of his office and then the classroom in a rage, startling what little students that were early and hanging around. He found his way quickly, and didn't bother to knock as he burst into the other's office.

Agent Kallus was calmly writing up something at his desk, only looking up at his intrusion.

"Oh, it's you," the man infuriatingly said dismissively. "What is it?"

"You took my collar!" Valen accused angrily.

Kallus glanced at him before grabbing something in his desk, holding it up and twirling the collar around a finger lazily.

"This? Well, you shouldn't have taken it off and left it out for anyone to just take it."

That was the last straw and Valen just rushed forward, intent on taking back his collar and punching the man's lights out.

He just stupidly forgot Kallus was incredibly trained and had been ready for him, dodging slightly and then was quick to follow up a counter, his fist hitting Valen's temple solidly.

He was knocked out immediately.

Started 3/3/15 – Completed 3/6/15


	5. Green's a Good Color, But So's Red

Valen groaned, feeling his head pounding. He realized quickly that he was lying on cold metal, and when he slowly sat up to gain his bearings, he realized in horrified understanding that he was in a cell.

Damn it all, fragging Kallus had knocked him out and then tossed him into a cell.

Galaxies, what if he was going to get court-martialed? He just assaulted (well, technically attempted to) a superior officer. As an ISB Agent (a high level one at that), Kallus equaled a rank-less position that meant he was almost assuredly above the law and over Valen. And yet…

Valen couldn't bring himself to give a druk about it, because he was wishing he'd succeeded instead. That guy was a creep. A complete sleemo that ought to be thrown into a cell himself. See how he liked it, the jerk.

But he just didn't get it. What was Kallus' problem? And why did it seem like he had it out for Valen and had something against his collar? Hell, why did he freaking take the thing? To confiscate it? Valen snorted at the thought.

But remembering his theories about Kallus and Ezra, he started to feel uneasy and just the slightest bit of jealousy began to creep in and cloud his thoughts.

Did Kallus know Ezra for sure? Did he like her?  _Was_  he jealous of Valen and Valen's collar?

He shook his head, trying to think clearly. He had no answers and he was driving himself crazy with all these questions that he obviously wasn't going to get answers for any time soon. He'd have to be patient and find a way to pry those answers from the ISB Agent, one way or another.

However, at the moment, his first clear concern was the fact he was locked up in a cell and could be facing charges.

Or it should be, because right now he couldn't help that his focus cycled right back to Kallus having taken his collar, was possibly jealous of him and it, and might like Ezra in the same way Valen did.

That was all so unforgivable in Valen's mind.

* * *

Ezra felt much better after a few days off. The first day had really sucked when she'd been forced to go home, but the next day had turned out much better when Valen visited her. The day after that had been similar, only with Kallus surprisingly being the one to turn up and oddly had taken care of her and gotten her medicine and made her food. And, as much as he said it, it didn't scream 'slave actions.' It felt more like 'caretaker' or 'concerned close guy friend' (or something like that).

But the fourth day kind of sucked too –neither men had come visited her and she hadn't heard from either of them. Which was strange since Valen, at least, had a tendency to constantly try to contact her somehow. It felt kind of lonely, though she would never admit that to either Imperial punks.

She wouldn't!

But seeing as she was much better, she would go back to the academy and also end up finding out what was wrong. Something just felt off to her, especially the lack of communication (most definitely odd coming from Valen), so she felt anxious to get to the academy and figure out what was what.

Only when she got there, all she got was a lot of whispering. Groups of students were all hanging about each other, whispering to each other, and it was weirding her out. Plus, now she was curious and wondering what was going on. Spotting Priya, one of the first friends she made there, she hurried over to the blonde girl.

"Priya!"

Brown eyes alighted onto her and Priya smiled widely.

"Hey! Good to see you back. Are you okay?"

Ezra gave a small smile. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. The question is, what the heck is going on? Why are there groups of kids scattered all over the place and whispering to each other?"

Priya winced and gave her a sympathetic look that confused her.

"You haven't heard then?" she asked Ezra hesitantly.

Ezra shook her head, feeling her confusion grow.

"Your boy toy teach is in trouble. He stormed out of class yesterday morning before classes were supposed to start and supposedly headed to Agent Kallus' academy office. Some students said they saw him attempt to punch Agent Kallus, who managed to avoid it and ended up knocking Mr. Rudor out instead. Mr. Rudor's stuck in the brig and there's been no news what's going to happen to him. Everyone's been gossiping and wondering what happened and what set him off and want to attack Agent Kallus, or speculating about what's going to happen."

Ezra felt her jaw slowly drop and she stared at her friend.

What in the worlds had happened while she was gone?

"Do you know anything else?" she asked quietly, trying not to sound desperate.

Priya glanced around nervously. "That's what everyone else knows…but Weylen told me some stuff. Come here."

She grabbed Ezra's hand and had her follow her to an unused and empty classroom, where she told her everything that her own teacher boyfriend had told her about Valen and Kallus' confrontation in the lunch room and what Valen had told Weylen about it and their speculations about it and Kallus.

Ezra, knowing a lot more about that side of things, knew that yes Kallus knew about her, her and Valen, and of the collar. But to be  _jealous_?

And dear moons, what was all that about that conversation in the lunch room? Why would Kallus ever approach Valen like that and be so provocative and sounding like he was aiming to get into a fight? He couldn't really possibly be jealous, could he? Did he just dislike the collar that much?

This was driving her up the wall, and she was running around in circles in her head. And the only conclusion she could come up with was that Kallus, unbelievably, really was jealous.

"I'll be back," she sighed. "I'm going to take care of this."

Otherwise, Valen might be in a huge heap of trouble if she didn't, and she confessed she'd grown rather fond of him.

* * *

Kallus admitted that he might have been more than a little vindictive in his retaliated punch and in shoving the downed pilot into a cell. And the fact that he most probably got to stay in there more than made Kallus' week.

If he wanted, he could have Rudor charged with assault against a superior officer, and have the man not only dishonorably discharged, but thrown into prison for the rest of his life. The thought put a sneering smile on his face.

"I'm not sure I like that smile, Mr. Agent," a familiar voice drawled, and he looked up from his desk to see Ezra by his door. She stepped in and the door slid shut behind her, and he made sure his face was blank as he made sure it was locked and no one could come in.

"I don't know what you mean, Master," he said indifferently.

Her own lips lifted up briefly. "Smarmy git."

She walked towards him, and he couldn't help noticing that her hips swayed more so than usual.

"A little birdy told me what happened yesterday," Ezra said with a hum. "I think you've been very naughty, Agent Kallus," she practically sing-songed.

He tensed up, more so as she reached his side and placed a slender hand on his shoulder. It flitted upwards, fingers brushing lightly against his muttonchops, up his temple, and then tickled against his scalp. She leaned down and whispered into his ear.

" _Have_  you been naughty, Agent Kallus?"

He clenched his jaw. "Why of course not, Master. Rudor tried to punch me first. I only retaliated and did what had to be done for such an action, especially since –as a rare occasion –there had been students nearby who had witnessed the altercation."

She hmmed, and without further warning, climbed onto his lap. She straddled him and he sat up ramrod straight, studiously staring straight ahead at his wall. Her lips brushed against his jaw.

Ezra tutted. "Ah, but you took his collar, didn't you."

It wasn't a question.

Inwardly, he scowled and wondered how she knew about that, given no one else should have known aside from Rudor, who was stuck in a cell and was unable to have visitors. However, he couldn't focus on that when she purposely pressed herself down onto him, and he could definitely feel the heat of her core against his trousers on top of his groin.

"Did you want a collar too, my little slave?" she purred against the side of his face, cheek rubbing against his sideburn. A tongue darted out briefly and touched his skin, causing his trousers to tighten. "Were you jealous I'd collared him and not you?"

He viciously clamped down on his mouth, even as she began to rock against him and his own arousal was more than evident. Even if his body was betraying him at the moment, he refused to vocally surrender to her.

But then one particular grind against him caused him to let out a breath, and he could feel sweat gathering at his forehead. Her core was rubbing against his clothed cock, and he had to bite down on his lip to refuse letting out a moan. He'd been trained better than this. He had an unrivaled mental discipline. He wouldn't give up to this small slip of a girl.

She started to pepper kisses against his neck, and he felt his breathing get heavier. His hands twitched against his armrests, and he willed them to stay put.

"Ah, but I can't exactly give  _you_  a collar, Mr. Big Bad Agent. It would look strange for you to have one, as well as suspicious for the two of you to both have a collar," her voice sounded mocking, and he refused to acknowledge the disappointment he felt, even as his hips jerked up at a particular hard grind from her.

Damn, he could feel himself dripping pre-cum through his pants. Swallowing harshly, he turned his head and looked her in the eyes, keeping impassive. But she merely grinned impishly.

"There  _are_  other ways to mark a person though. And yours has to be unseen."

He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but then she'd latched her mouth to his neck and began to suck and he let out a loud groan that he was embarrassed at. But at the moment, he could hardly care. All he could focus on was the heat grinding down on his dick, and the hot mouth sucking at his neck while her tongue licked at the area, and he realized he was so fragging close –

Ezra abruptly stopped and slid off of him quickly, a smug smirk visible on her face. He couldn't help staring at her in disbelief and resentment.

"You…"

She lifted a single finger and wagged it at him, almost like he was a dog that had done a bad thing.

"Now, now, Agent Kallus," she was definitely sounding mocking now. "I'll tell you what I told Baron Rudor –I'll never have sex with you. You can cry and beg for me…but I'll never let you come. I can have sex with whoever…the whole world, the whole galaxy can die off and it'll just be you and me…but I'll never let you come and I'll never have sex with you. Are  _you_  okay with that, Agent Kallus?"

He stared at her.

"No," he said bluntly and stood up quickly, pulling her against him and pressing her against his desk. She looked up at him in surprise, losing her confident stance, and his eyes darkened as he glared down at her. But then he smirked. "Because I'm more than sure I can get  _you_  to sleep with me," he growled.

She blinked before she laughed lightly, and escaped from his hold.

"We'll see about that."

She turned to leave him behind, and he was certain that her hips were definitely sashaying obviously this time.

"In the meantime…yes, I'll be content not to come," he said mulishly, glaring at his desk. At this point, he couldn't recognize himself anymore. She was making a mess out of him.

Ezra paused by his door. "Then do me a favor and let out my other dog."

The door slid open and she left.

"He's more of a puppy," Kallus grouched.

* * *

Valen didn't know how long he'd been in there. All he knew was that he was irritable and ready to lash out at Kallus the moment he saw that bastard's smug face. If he was going to be charged for assault, he might as well actually do the deed.

It would be so freaking satisfying…

The door slid open and Valen looked to see who it was, narrowing his eyes when he saw that Kallus was the one there.

"Lieutenant-Commander Rudor," Kallus greeted him with his military rank, causing Valen to wince. The man had the nerve to smirk at him. "I could have you strip of your title of Baron. I could have your rank stripped from you as well. I could have you dishonorably discharged. In fact, this could be your new home for the rest of your life, if I just say the word."

Valen flinched and turned his head away from him.

"Fortunately for you, I've been convinced otherwise," the man said, though his tone suggested he wasn't on board with this at all. "As far as anyone is concerned, we resolved our issue in private and you will be let off with a warning."

Confused and surprised, Valen snapped his head towards Kallus and stared at him, though the man was glaring back. But the man shifted his head slightly, and Valen saw a red, aggravated mark peeking out from the high-neck collar of the agent's military uniform, and he knew exactly what it was and probably from whom. His lips unconsciously formed a snarl.

Seeing where the pilot was staring at, Kallus' gloved hand flew up and covered the mark. But instead of being embarrassed, he glared defiantly in Valen's direction. He stepped into the cell, and the door slid close.

"You're lucky she wanted you out," Kallus sneered. "If it was up to me, I would have left you to rot in this place."

Valen could feel his face heat up and he was just itching to throw a punch again. But seeing as how that was what landed him in here in the first place, he reluctantly refrained. He had a feeling that Ezra wouldn't be able to change Kallus' mind a second time. Hopefully.

He couldn't stand the thought of her touching the other man.

But he was still not going to just take this lying down though. He had to do something, or say something in his defense.

"Jealous, are you?" Valen felt himself become bold. He straightened up in his cell bed. "I see she still hasn't collared you."

Kallus pursed his lips. "A collar's too obvious on a man like me. It would be more questionable, rather than it had been for you. And if we were both to be walking around with one anyway…Unless you  _want_  her to get in trouble?"

Valen's smugness slowly died down, but he wasn't giving up yet. He shrugged.

"Well, alright. But  _I_ still have a collection of her panties for rewards. What do  _you_  have?"

Oh, it felt so, so good to put that angry scowl on the ISB Agent's face. And he did have all that compared to the other, and he knew for sure that Kallus really hadn't yet to receive anything from her.

"You better shut your mouth," Kallus' lip curled irritably. "I'm still perfectly willing to leave you here."

He opened the door and strode out, and left Valen to scramble up and hurry after him.

* * *

Ezra sighed, reveling in the break she had. She was hiding away on a rooftop, laying back and staring up at the sky. It was unbelievably tense that day, with all the students wondering about Valen and more so when his class came up and they had to deal with a substitute teacher.

It made her worry a little for the guy, though she was quite certain that Kallus would heed her demand. She did, after all, have more power over him than she originally thought she had.

"Spectre 6? Are you in?"

Ezra sighed again. "Hey, Sabine. I'm in the clear."

"You should still stick to codenames," Sabine lectured, but still sounded amused at her nonchalance. "Any news?"

She licked her lips. "I had some trouble with my illness recently, so I had to be out of the academy for a few days. I just came back today. Good news –I've got an in at the hospital since the Head Nurse here got some of my blood and sent it over. Vizago said he's almost done with my paperwork too."

"That's good," Sabine said, though she clearly still sounded worried. "Hopefully, they'll find something and can help you. Any trouble? Though I'm still not sure if I want to know."

Ezra hesitated, but she was starting to think she needed to tell someone about this before she exploded. Priya didn't count because she didn't really know who Ezra was and what she did for real. She was really starting to feel over her head, especially given the explosive tension going on between Valen and Kallus.

"Um, yeah…you remember last time, when I was hinting I was getting into trouble? Thing is…it's escalated rather badly now."

"…Alright. Talk, Ezra," Sabine sounded stern then.

"Just promise you won't spill to the others," Ezra hurried to say.

"This doesn't sound good already," Sabine muttered. "Okay, I promise."

Ezra winced, but trudged on. "Okay…I may have made a pet out of Baron Valen Rudor and a slave out of Agent Kallus."

"…Wait, what?!"

She winced again, before launching into what happened and what was now going on, with the two men being confrontational with each other and basically eager to get into a fight. Which she hadn't expected to happen. At all. Like seriously.

On the other end, Sabine groaned. "Oh galaxies. Really, Ezra? Only you."

Feeling sheepish, Ezra stayed quiet.

"I can't believe you got the infamous Baron to act like that. Even more surprising is Kallus' attitude. That man's like a freaking extreme loyalist, and an Imperial fanatic. Never mind his single-minded goal on persistently hunting us down. You are all sorts of lucky, have I mentioned that?"

Ezra laughed weakly.

"Well, at least they're handsome, sexy bastards," Sabine grumbled, though she perked up a little. "Which makes you even more lucky in a different sense, my wonderfully talented soul sister."

She couldn't help gloating a bit. "I'm good, aren't I? Heh, I got those two eating out of the palm of my hand. Heck, I bet I can get them to literally do that, if I wanted!"

"That's the spirit, Ezra!" Sabine sounded like she was now all for this. "If they're so willing to be your dogs, then you enjoy the hell out of it, you hear me? I won't tell the others, dear soul sister."

"Why thank you, sister after my heart~" Ezra echoed in a sly tone.

She admitted, now that she thought of it, that she liked the color of green envy on the two. Now she just needed to keep them from spilling blood and coloring things red.

Started 4/2/15 – Completed 4/3/15


	6. Irresistible (Love the Way You Hurt Me)

Ezra hadn't exactly expected the two to visit her home after everything was going on, so she made sure to see them the next day, before school started. She could see how vexed Valen was, and admitted he looked rather cute all frustrated and angry. He really was too easy to rile up though.

"Knock, knock," she sing-songed, and his head shot up so fast that she was afraid it would come flying off.

But the blissful grin that spread on his lips at the sight of her made her focus, and she sauntered into the office and sat on his desk next to him. She noted the bare neck, and mused on it while she absentmindedly threaded her hand through his short brown hair, missing his pleased look.

So Kallus hadn't given back the collar still.

"You don't have your collar," she said aloud, and making his pleased mood turn into a rather irritated one in which he was glaring at his table, probably imagining beating up a certain ISB Agent.

Ezra tapped her lips thoughtfully. "Do you want it back?"

"Yes," Valen said immediately, in a staunch way. He had a very disgruntled look on.

Her lips twitched. "So let's go get it."

She hopped off of the desk and he hurriedly got up and followed. Ezra checked outside his office first before slipping out and then also discreetly leaving his classroom, and then she was heading to the more secluded corridors to avoid the early comers hanging around the main hallways. It wasn't long until they were where Kallus' office was, and Ezra quickly got in with Valen.

Kallus was at his desk, working like usual. Her lips curved in a smile, but she reminded herself that she had a goal to this. Not that she wasn't going to have fun while she was teaching Kallus a lesson, but still…

"Someone's up and early," she spoke out and saw him sigh before raising his head while about to raise an eyebrow at her. However, catching sight of Valen, his expression shuttered and blanked out.

"Well, unlike others, I actually do work," he impassively stated, but he gave a lazy glance towards Valen.

She could feel the pilot bristling beside her, but she knew that Kallus was just baiting Valen. Apparently, she had her work cut out, dealing with these two. And she thought her main problem being in this place was that she was going to have trouble keeping her cover and not getting caught…

Instead, she got a much more complicated mess, and two men that wanted to rip each other apart than get along (and strangely enough, it was over her…especially considering who they were).

"Down, boy," she said wryly, though both of them looked at her in consternation.

"Please tell me you're referring to him," both of them said in aggravation, though seeing as they had said the same thing, they tossed the other heated glares.

Getting slightly fed up, she grabbed the collar of Valen's shirt and dragged him over to where Kallus was, alarming the pilot and the agent both. She could feel Valen fighting off the urge to pull away and get as far away as he could, while Kallus was tense and ready to spring into action.

"Both of you," she spat out, finally showing her aggravation and further alarming the two, though for new reasons now, while also being caught off guard with her anger and seemingly sudden change of emotion.

Her aggravation, however, seemed to aggravate her condition and she found herself hunching over as she tried to control her hyperventilating breaths.

"Ezra?!" she heard one of them, though she couldn't distinguish who then, yell. She felt hands too, but she slapped them away and focused on her breathing.

"I'm fine," she gritted her teeth. "Just leave me alone for a second."

Her eyebrows furrowed and she allowed herself to just breathe and focus on the silence that finally came. When she finally got her breathing under control, she opened her eyes to see both of them watching her warily.

"I'm fine," she repeated, though much more sincerely and they believed it better this time.

Right, she had a task she'd gone there to set out. She had to get back to it, and put Kallus in his place.

"You," she pointed to Kallus. "I want you to stand over there, slave," she felt herself feel much better and could even smirk a bit.

Disgruntled, Kallus did as she ordered, getting up from his seat and standing beside his desk and against the wall. Ezra marched over and sat on the newly vacated seat. From there, she took off her shoes and then her socks, lifting them up so that the heels of her feet would rest against the edge of her seat as she looked at and addressed Valen.

"Mr. Rudor," she purred. "Be a dear and lick my toes."

Flushing completely red and obviously embarrassed, Ezra was pleased though, that he didn't seem repulsed or weirded out, or had any signs that he didn't want to. Interesting…

Aside from being embarrassed, he didn't even seem humiliated or bothered at all, not even with the fact that Kallus was still there and watching closely. She would even be amused if it turned out Valen had forgotten all about Kallus' presence by then. Kallus, on the hand, was scowling terribly and not even bothering to hide his sneering expression.

Ezra smugly leaned back and grinned widely, stretching out her legs and letting Valen take her feet. One of them rested comfortably on his lap, while Valen took the other with both hands and leaned closer. His tongue darted out and licked her big toe.

Honestly, Ezra expected it to tickle and for her to giggle idiotically, practically embarrassing herself and ruining the entire thing. Then she would let Valen off and then lecture Kallus, and then both of them, and then she'd find something else to humiliate and tease the two with.

She didn't expect the wet and warm feel of Valen's tongue, the flat of it pressing against her toe unhurriedly, and sliding against it in such an erotic manner that had her arching her back slightly and her breath to catch.

And then she was watching in amazement as Valen lavished her feet, worshiping with his tongue. The warm appendage slipped in between her toes, wrapping around them, his mouth even getting into it as he decided that he didn't mind sucking them either. Unconsciously, Ezra felt her legs spread and an ache building between, throbbing as she watched Valen eagerly take to the task she'd given him.

She looked up, curious to see what Kallus' reactions were and how furious he was that such a debauched thing was happening in his own office. She sucked in a huge breath.

He was angry alright. His bronze eyes were dark and looked like gold irises emblazoned with a metallic sheen, watching them intently. His hands had tightened into fists and the beginnings of a snarl were openly showing on his face. A flurry of emotions were displayed on his face, his usual control gone.

He was furious, but he was envious too. And an animalistic possessiveness and deep longing were clear on him, as clear as it was that Ezra was enjoying all this too much.

And to be honest, Kallus' loss of control and clear display of all those emotions and wants were as hot to her as Valen's ministrations.

Oh, she was so doomed.

Swallowing heavily, Ezra let herself smirk slightly, leaning back and pretending she wasn't affected by anything. She stared back at Kallus challengingly, making sure he was watching as she reached out and practically pet Valen's head approvingly, like he was being a good dog. Then she let her head fall back and open her mouth slightly, though she continued to watch through half-lidded eyes. She daringly dragged the tip of her tongue across her lower lip.

She saw Kallus give a minute movement that for a moment showed he was very affected by the display she was giving and that he wanted to rip Valen away from her and toss him aside, replacing him and taking his place even. But then he was restraining himself again, glaring straight into her amused, hooded eyes, while his hands clenched tighter than ever.

Ezra was finding that she enjoyed having power trips, and the power she had over these two made every new interaction even better than it would be normally.

"Stop," Ezra reluctantly ordered, sure she had done as she'd set out to do, satisfactorily showing Kallus just where his place was. Below her and doing what  _she_  wanted, whatever it may be. They were not dealing in this situation as Imperial Officer and rebel insurgent. This was as they'd agreed to –he as her slave and she in command. Hell, she'd even secretly recorded that conversation and his agreement to be her slave, and it was blackmail enough that she could use it whenever to make him refrain from acting up.

However, truthfully, she didn't want to use it. It would bring up their actual roles and the sides they were on, and ruin their little agreement and rather forbidden tryst that she was enjoying a little too much. The fun in all this would be tainted, and bitterness and resentment would be created and fostered.

No, no. She much preferred this, where she could tease him all she wanted, test his limits and patience. She wanted to see how far she could take him and how long would it take before he snapped and did something about his circumstances in the way that she now knew and could see he was itching to forcefully take for himself.

Besides, hadn't he said he was more than sure he could get her to sleep with him?

She turned her attention back to Valen, who was waiting dutifully and looking up at her patiently after having put her footwear back on. He really was a good, loyal puppy.

"You can choose your reward, Mr. Rudor," she said thoughtfully. "You can take a week off from the collar and being my pet or you can take the underwear I'm currently wearing."

"I would prefer your underwear," he said quietly, and a part of her was still surprised. She would have thought for sure that Valen would have been happy to have a week where he wasn't humiliated and teased horribly by her.

"Are you sure?" she scrutinized him. "I've giving you the option to be free for a week. It probably won't come up as a reward again, at least not for a long time. That's a week without me bringing you torturously to the brink and not letting you go over the edge."

"I would prefer you slowly torturing me like that continuously, than be away from you," Valen confessed, and Ezra couldn't help actually giving him a look of surprise.

It was kind of sweet, in a very perverse way.

Ezra stood up and gave Valen a soft smile, once again brushing his hair back while he stayed kneeling before her. "Then you may have it. In fact, you can take it off yourself," she offered the bonus, extremely pleased with Valen right then.

Valen gaped for a second, before he reached out with trembling hands and the tips of his fingers went under her skirt. She watched his face, while his hands clumsily went to find the hem of her panty, gripping it and sliding it down slowly, dragging his fingers down her skin. She almost rolled her eyes at his sneaking in an extra advantage, gratuitously touching her legs and taking his time at that. She was further amused as she watched him, his eyes focusing on his fingers and the panty sliding down smooth, soft legs. She could see that his eyes were dilated, as much as they were intense on his observation of what he was doing. Watching his lips part slightly, Ezra curiously looked up to look for Kallus.

He was still in the spot she'd ordered him at, watching Valen remove her underwear intently. By then, Kallus resembled a statue –unmoving and blank-faced. Only the intensity of his stare and his blown-back pupils showed how affected he was. Even his breathing seemed purposely tightly controlled, his chest barely rising and falling and air being strictly released and taken in by his command.

Once Valen had finally gotten her panty off, she could see him clutching it tightly in one hand, giving it a long glance before looking up at her.

"I did say 'underwear,' didn't I?" she rhetorically asked, amusement coloring her voice. She turned around and began peeling off her school blouse, taking it off and letting it hang by her side. "I was speaking of it in the general sense, which means I'm including my bra."

She peeked over her shoulder and saw Valen staring at her with wide, light blue eyes. She glanced at his throat and saw him swallow thickly, before he walked over to her and stood behind her back. His fingers deftly unhooked her bra, and using her straps as a guide, let his fingers firmly caress upwards until he reached her shoulders and where he took them off of her while gliding his fingers down her arms. She let him have it, and heard a shared sharp intake of breath from the two men behind her.

Idly, she mused that though she faced forward and away from them, the outline of the sides of her breasts were probably easily seen. She didn't hurry with putting her blouse back on, stretching her arms up as she slid the sleeves on first, and letting them also enjoy her naked skin for a few moments longer. When she finally had her blouse back on, she turned and face the two, taken aback by their hungry stares.

Not letting her wariness show, Ezra let a smirk go back on her lips.

"I think it's time for Homeroom. I'll see you there, Mr. Rudor," she walked to the door, before turning somewhat. "My, you two are such masochists."

"I love the way you hurt me," Valen murmured in dazed admittance.

She inwardly shook her head, glancing at Kallus to see he hadn't moved an inch. Ezra left them, and the two men were left alone.

Valen, uncaring that Kallus was still there or that he was in the man's office (or maybe he was just too out of it and forgot everything), went for his pants and fumbled with them, still clutching onto Ezra's pair of underwear.

Kallus paid him no mind, glaring a hole into his floor.

* * *

Sabine stared at the ship's kitchen without really looking at it. No, her thoughts were elsewhere. She was busy thinking of a certain mischievous girl, who was up to very, very bad mischief indeed.

Who, after all, reels in and plays dubious games (like Ezra was) with the likes of the infamous Baron Rudor and the bane of the Crew, Agent Kallus?

Ezra Bridger, that's who.

Damn girl was up to her neck in trouble, but Sabine couldn't help but egg her on and think it was all hilarious as well. Eying Hera, who had just entered into the tiny commune, Sabine bit her lower lip from blurting anything out. It was so tempting though…

But then Hera was one of the girls. She wouldn't be overtly upset with the "news." After all, hadn't they –in their girls' nights in the ship –talked about the guys they knew, which had actually included even Agent Kallus and his "sex-dripping voice of authority?" Come to think of it, weren't those  _Ezra's_  words? Sabine guessed that the girl had issues about the guy even then.

Heck, thinking about it, there had been a lot of clues and things Ezra had said those nights that should've had Sabine not be as surprised about this new development as she had been. Then again, it was surprising the two Imperial officers were going along with Ezra's crazy schemes in the first place, so maybe Sabine's surprise was warranted after all.

"Hera," Sabine hissed, gesturing for the beautiful Twi'lek woman to come over. Hera looked nonplused but came over anyway. Sabine grabbed her hand and practically dragged her out of there, and was paranoid-acting as she looked around for the other two as she led the way to her room.

"What in the universe is going on, Sabine? Why are you acting like this and being strange?" Hera pulled her arm away, once they were safely inside Sabine's room.

"Ezra made Kallus into her slave and Rudor into her pet," Sabine just blurted out without restraint.

Hera stared at her dumbly.

"WHAT?"

* * *

After Rudor had left, Kallus slid into his chair and broodingly watched his monitors. On the other hand though, he'd half a mind to toss Rudor back into his cell after the other man had indecently masturbated in his office without any thought to who else was there, where he was, or anything at all.

But then, Rudor didn't seem capable of any thought or comprehension then. In fact, the idiotic pilot seemed to care and think only about that rebel girl, who had wrapped them into her web somehow. A flash of the image of her draped on his chair, the very chair he sat on, went through his mind. It made him jolt off of his chair and close his eyes shut, his hands moving into fists again as he fought against the image.

She was driving them both mad, he and Rudor both. They were going to head straight over the edge into insanity because of her.

His phone rang and brought him out of his thoughts. Realizing it was his phone and not his comlink alerting him, Kallus snatched it off of his desk and answered.

"This is Agent Kallus," he practically growled into it. "What is it?"

"Agent Kallus? We have news about the patient you're interested in. It's not…good news, sir."

His hand gripped the phone tightly, almost threatening to break it.

"What do you mean?" his voice was steady though.

"We finally accurately deduced the illness, and there's no absolute immediate cure for it, but we can get it managed."

What exactly did he think he was going to hear? He was in a job where he came to see the odds were usually unfavorable for everyone around him. This recent bad news should have been a mile coming.

"What is it?" he made himself ask.

"We believe she has acute lymphocytic leukemia. We'd need to do more tests to find out how, when, and why, but if we caught it early enough, she should be fine after some treatments for the disease."

Kallus made a noncommittal sound, agreed he'd bring her in as soon as possible, and then hung up. And then he sat back heavily in his chair, and the image of her again –draped all languid and beautiful over his chair –haunted him in the same way as it did earlier, and yet also in a different way.

Why'd he have to get so damn attached to her?

Started 5/6/15 – Completed 5/19/15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also (IMPORTANT): Patreon: It's been awkward thinking about creating one, but I know there are fanfiction authors who have, so I wanted to ask everyone if they think it'd be alright I did? I'm a sub teacher's aide, but the normal school year is almost over, I'm broke, I've been meaning to go back to college, and aside from writing fanfiction for over ten years with not much to show for it aside from all you awesome people giving support, I really need to do something about my finances. Plus, I do actually want to eventually to publish original work soon, and this site is great support with donations for writers. So yes or no?


	7. Fall Off the Edge

Ezra yawned, finishing up getting ready for school. This was the worst part of the assignment –having to attend and do work. She was bored out of her mind. If it weren't for the entertainment she got out of Valen and Kallus, she would have been beyond going crazy at this point.

Grabbing her backpack, she'd reached her door and had just opened it, before she yelped and jumped back in surprise when she saw Kallus stoically standing in front of her and having been waiting outside the door.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she asked in an accusatory tone.

"Come with me," Kallus said impassively.

Caught off guard, she just gave him a strange look and frowned at him.

"The only place I'm going to is school," she said, disgruntled. It was important for her mission and health that she ingratiate herself to these Imperials as much as possible, and be able to get herself integrated into the system and hopefully find a cure for her illness.

However, she was pushed back into her apartment and Kallus closed the door behind him. From there, she was manhandled into going back into her living room and sat down on her couch.

"What are you –"

But he cut her off. "How long have you been sick?"

She looked at him bewildered, not sure where this was coming from.

"What's it to you? I don't get why are you –" Once again he cut her off, this time by putting his gloved hand against her mouth. Indignant and annoyed, she glared heatedly at him, though it faltered at his strangely serious but solemn gaze.

"You have acute lymphocytic leukemia," he revealed quietly and she froze. "There are treatments for it and it can be cured from your body if you are regularly taking those treatments. But there is no instant cure for it, like you'd be hoping."

"But there's a catch," her voice was starting to become shrill. "What? You want information in exchange for those treatments? My allegiance to the Empire?"

Kallus raised an eyebrow at her, but his expression hadn't changed from its strange look.

"No," he continued, still quiet. "I want to make sure you go to the treatments no matter what. They can…get hard to endure. That…that is all I want in exchange from you."

Ezra looked at him disbelievingly. He can't be serious. There had to be more to it than just that.

"And you expect me to believe you?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"No, I don't," he admitted. "But that is what I want in exchange for getting you the treatments."

She was still waiting for the other shoe to drop and for him to confess he was lying to her and giving her false hope. Or if he wasn't lying, then she expected him to confess that he did have some other ulterior motive. But the longer she stared at him, he just simply stared back and said nothing more after that.

"When do we go?" Why was her voice so small?

"Right now," he declared. "It's why I want you to come with me. I will take you straight to the hospital and you'll need to get started."

She nodded dazedly, allowing him to pull her up and then lead her out of her apartment and to the speeder he came there with. From there, he'd driven her all the way to the Imperial Hospital and taken her to the correct department, where he did most of the work signing her in and then leading her to wait for a few moments to the side before they could bypass many of the others and be seen immediately. She tugged at his arm as she remembered one thing.

"I don't have my insurance papers written up," she whispered to him. "I was waiting for them to be…made up by someone, before I was going to get me in here. I just…I just had this whole elaborate thing going on and now what I'm supposed to do?"

He turned to her slightly. "Just stay and take the treatments. As for the insurance," he looked hesitant, "I have made your case a priority to be taken in and dealt with, and in the meantime have you attached in my insurance."

She blinked at him in confusion, still unsure as to why he was doing this and what was really going on.

However, all she could say was at least "Thank you."

He gave her a slight nod and then the doctor came out to see them and they were brought inside the medical rooms, where she was directed to one of them and given a change of patient clothes and shown towards the room's bathroom to change in. After she was finished and went back out, she was surprised to see Kallus still there and waiting for her.

"What…what do I do now?" she asked awkwardly and just a little bit scared. Yes, this was the result she and the others had been hoping for, but now that she was actually in the Imperial Hospital, she was definitely feeling afraid. Especially now that she knew what she had and that she apparently had to do some "tests" and "treatments."

"Bloodwork and some x-rays first," he answered neutrally, but she couldn't help obviously flinching at his answer and his face surprisingly softened. "It's nothing painful. Maybe a pinch for when you get the bloodwork done, because of the needle, but you'll be fine today."

Her hand shot to her arm and clutched it and she glanced at him skittishly.

"Are you afraid of needles?" he asked in amusement, having seen the action.

Ezra frowned at him. "Yeah, so?"

"It really won't be too bad," he told her. "I promise."

Glancing at him as she was taken aback, she reluctantly nodded. Still…

"Are you…are you going to stay here the whole time?" she asked hesitantly.

"I have the few classes I need to teach today, and I needed to look into Commandant Aresko and Taskmaster Grint –" he faltered at seeing the brief look of disappointment on her face that she'd tried to hide. "I could…I could have someone else take over my classes and I can just contact Aresko and Grint remotely," he said instead.

She cast him a reluctantly grateful look, and he ignored it for both their sakes. The doctor came in then.

"Agent Kallus," he greeted before turning to Ezra. "If you're ready, Miss Dume?"

She took a deep breath and nodded, and she felt Kallus grab hold of her shoulders and help lead her out.

* * *

Seeing that Ezra was absent again, Valen worried and wondered what was up now. He'd gone through the day and through his classes doing his best to look nonchalant and forcing himself to be there and to focus on teaching. But he had no reservations in realizing he probably looked more than anxious and that any attempt to hide how he felt wasn't working.

By the end of the day, he was sure he looked as much as he felt like a nervous wreck.

There was a knock on his door and he expected either Weylen or (to his hopeless hope) Ezra. Instead, the door opened to admit Kallus, the very face he _didn't_ want to see.

"What do you want?" he grumbled.

"Are you busy?" Kallus' tone was short.

Though he was surprised at the question, Valen still managed to sneer at the man. "Maybe I am."

"Then I suppose you wouldn't want to visit Ezra then."

At that, he snapped to attention and stared raptly at Kallus, giving the man all of his focus.

"What happened to her? Where is she? Why wasn't she in school?" Valen couldn't help the slightly accusatory tone to his voice, nor the slight suspicion in his eyes.

"She's in the hospital," Kallus ignored both his tone and voice, but his answer made Valen freeze up. "Her bloodwork revealed what illness she had, so she's currently undergoing some tests. She'll be there awhile, but I have made sure that her case is top priority and that she's well taken cared of. I do, however, know that she would want you around. For whatever reason, I can't guess," Kallus ended snidely, but Valen pretended not to hear him.

"Is she there now? When can we go?" he asked quickly.

"She is there now," Kallus admitted. Then he reluctantly added, "We are to go now, if you are ready."

"I'm more than ready," Valen told him certainly. "I have nothing around here that needs my attention or whatever, so let's just go."

Kallus couldn't help sneering, but he did turn on his heel and leave, leading the way out of that area and then out of the building. They settled into the speeder and then they set off into the traffic to head to the hospital.

* * *

Ezra lay on the hospital bed, awake and eyes wide as she stared at the wall and monitored her breathing. She'd done all the initial testing, gotten more bloodwork done and her x-rays finished…And now they were going to finish up by introducing some kind of "startup" medicine into her system. At least that was how they'd explained it to her.

She wished she had her comlink and could talk to Sabine. Or Hera. Or Kanan. Even Zeb would do.

Kallus was supposed to be there. He said he had to leave for a bit, but it's been an hour and he still hadn't been back.

She didn't want to be alone. She didn't want to be by herself in that lonely and cold hospital room. She wished someone, anyone was there. In some ways it reminded her too much of all those years spent alone, before she met and joined the Ghost and met her second family.

She didn't want to backslide into that terrible hole.

Her door was knocked on before it opened and Kallus entered slightly, causing Ezra to unknowingly relax her tensed body. Kallus noticed, but didn't say anything to it.

"You left," she said hoarsely, still upset.

"I know," he said quietly, observing her.

"You'd promised."

"I know," he repeated, even though he knew he'd actually promised it wouldn't be too bad.

He then stepped fully into the room, reaching behind him to snag something and drag it into the room after him. That 'something' was a shock to Ezra, as she hadn't expected Valen or for him to know where she was. She also hadn't expected him to be with Kallus, and for Kallus to have dragged him in.

"But I'm here now," Kallus said firmly, drawing her attention again. "And I brought your dog," he added for recompense.

Even though Valen tossed Kallus a disgruntled look, Ezra couldn't help laughing in teary delight.

"I don't want to be alone," she confessed, sobering up. Valen looked at her worriedly, pushing passed Kallus to head towards her and sit by her side. "I'm kind of scared."

"Don't be. We're here now," Valen did his best to sound and look reassuring.

Kallus took up at her other side, sitting down with a heavy air.

"There have been plenty of times you've been scared before," Kallus said. "But I haven't failed in capturing you and the others just for no reason. You _are_ stronger than you look."

She wanted to grin and laugh at that, but the door opened and the doctor and a nurse came in then, wheeling in some odd contraption hooked up to an IV drip. She didn't know what was in the bag, but she was guessing it was that medicine her doctor had told her about.

"Excuse me, gentlemen," the doctor nodded towards the men. He looked to Ezra then. "Miss Dume, are you ready?"

She nodded, even though she really didn't want to and wasn't ready at all. The doctor and nurse prepped her and then she had yet another needle stuck in her, this time from the IV and one that wasn't going to be taken out for a while.

The doctor loomed over her. "This is going to make you really tired and probably put you to sleep for a bit. It's alright though, so don't worry about it and let yourself sleep off the effects."

Then the doctor and nurse left and she was already feeling tired.

"Ezra?"

She couldn't quite tell which one of them had said her name, but she did (even if it was blurry) see Kallus and Valen standing and leaning over her, watching her worriedly.

"S'funny. I stole your stuff that one time, Valen. And here you are, all worried over little ol' me," her words were starting to slur and she was spouting off whatever, it seemed. "And Agent Kallus finally got to lock me up in a prison cell."

Though Valen was infinitely pleased she'd said his name, he'd been confused about her comment for a moment, before it clicked and her face was placed at a scene from what seemed like long ago. He'd stared at her for a moment, trying to process it was the same girl.

In the meantime, Kallus' gloved hand grabbed hers. "It's not a prison cell," he said softly. "And you're not locked up."

When Valen and she heard that, they looked at him in shock because of his strange behavior and words. But he didn't change it or gave them an answer for it. But it did make Valen's mind up, which wasn't really too hard since he did declare to himself that first day in school that Ezra was it for him after all.

"Get better," he told her. "And then I can sign crap so you can sell it to the black market."

She laughed lightly. "Your signature's worthless there," she mumbled, eyes starting to droop as she started to fall asleep.

Ezra looked up at them one last time, and they noticed the slight sheen of tears at her eyelashes.

"Don't leave me," she murmured. "Please. Don't….want to be…alone. Not again."

Valen didn't know what to say, so he just grabbed her other hand. Oddly enough, it was Kallus who spoke and who began to reassure her once more.

"What a spell you've woven over the two of us," he said dryly. But his face softened with his tone next. "It's quite strong. I doubt we'd ever be able to leave you."

They heard her inhale sharply and she was looking at them in wonder. But then she gave them a small smile.

"Good. 'Cause I won't let you go."

She fell asleep then, no longer able to make herself stay awake.

* * *

Kallus looked at the comlink in his hand. It wasn't his. His was still in his ear. This one was in fact Ezra Bridger's, the girl sleeping right beside him. Rudor was gone at the moment, with Kallus having sent him out to get them food. The pilot had reluctantly left, but not without glaring at him a final time.

Without further ado, he exchanged his comlink for hers, knowing that this was the line that he was staring at and had to decide whether or not to cross.

He knew where Ezra's crew was. They were still in the atmosphere after all, waiting to leave only after she'd given them confirmation that she'd managed to become friends with the right people and get herself situated.

He tapped it on and waited for a moment.

"Ezra?" he heard someone worriedly say.

"No," he said then, and he was able to hear the gasp from the other end. "But she's okay."

"Agent Kallus," the other girl sneered. "What do you want? And where's Ezra?"

"She's in the hospital," he told the other.

"…Why? And you didn't answer my first question!"

"I know that I didn't, Sabine Wren," he spoke harshly. He forcefully made his tone more neutral. "You don't need to know what I want. It isn't of your concern. As for why Ezra's in the hospital, they have determined what her illness is and have started treatment on her."

There was another pause from the other again. "Oh. Is she okay?"

"She is," he confirmed.

"Good. Why are you…why are you doing this?"

At that, he had to take a second himself. He took a deep breath before he answered the other.

"Never mind why," he decided to skip that question. "What I need to know is why are you all not here with her, or made her do all this? Where are you all planning on heading off to, just hovering hesitantly in space?"

He heard a muttered curse. "I would like to say 'What's it to you?', but I have to hand over the comlink to Hera. She wants to speak to you."

Ah. The pilot of the Ghost crew's freighter ship that he'd yet to meet personally.

"Well, well. Isn't this a surprise, Agent Kallus?" he heard the woman speak in slight amusement.

"Is it?" he let his tone be as dry as the sand on Tatooine.

"Let's cut pleasantries. I know what you're not telling us. I can just tell actually," that made him slightly uneasy, but he refused to show it. "Ezra needs to get well. We can't be there for a long time, and we know that it would cause suspicions on her either way, especially if and when she managed to successfully infiltrate your system enough to be taken in to the Imperial Hospital. We have also made the decision to track down the Inquisitor and take him out of the equation, and hopefully leave Ezra alone."

He knew that while the other Jedi would benefit from this solution as well, that the man was also quite protective over his Padawan.

"He's in the Chommell sector, on the planet Naboo," he signed his name on what would deem him as a traitor. "Last I heard, a few days ago actually, he was looking into something that Lord Vader had asked him to see to."

He knew he'd caught the other two off guard, especially going by the prolonged silence.

"Thank you," was all Hera managed to choke out.

"It's for her," he declared. "Do your mission well."

He hung up then and took out the comlink from his ear, before staring at it in scrutiny.

My, how far had he fallen for a small slip of a girl.

Started 10/31/15 – Completed 11/12/15


	8. Let Me Drown

_I don't want to be alone._

_I don't want to be alone._

_I don't…want to be…alone…_

_I don't want –_

"You aren't alone. You won't be."

Ezra took a deep breath, feeling relief flood her. However, she tried to recognize the voice. It was just at the tip of her tongue…

"Are you okay, Ezra?" Another familiar, warm voice.

She put names to the voices, and struggled to open her eyes. Kallus and Valen were both over her, looking down at her and watching closely. She gave a small smile to them.

"Good morning?"

"Good morning," Kallus confirmed for her in his returned greeting. "Are you feeling better?"

Ezra observed herself, crinkling up her nose after. "Sore. Really tired too. But not as sick as before. I don't have the urge to throw up at least."

"Good," Valen gave her a warm smile. "So…guess what?"

"What?" she asked, struggling to sit up more. Both Kallus and Valen came closer to her sides and helped her.

"No more school for the rest of the school year," Valen leaned in close and whispered eagerly.

Ezra blinked and stared. "What? Why?"

Valen smirked and smugly jerked his thumb at Kallus. "This guy set the school on fire."

She turned to gape at Kallus then, wondering what in the world had she missed. Impassively, Kallus stared back at her.

"I hated teaching anyway," he said dryly.

Ezra couldn't help but let out a loud laugh, which Valen joined her in.

"Get this –Cor goes and plants a miniature bomb somewhere near his office, near some wires, right? Then he starts a fire in the kitchens, and in a few of the unused classrooms. He set off the bomb beforehand so that it messes up the wires and slowly messes up the wiring through the school and causing smaller fires within the walls. It also stopped the security cams and the fire alarms, and even better! The sprinklers didn't go off! So the whole school went down in a blaze mostly, and everyone else got the chance to get out first. And since none of the families want to bring them to the public school and there's no other facility large enough or willing enough to host all the students, the decision was to close down the school until it gets rebuilt. There's still the end of the year tests of course, but everyone's basically home schooling and will have to learn all the material at home."

"Why would you do that?" Ezra asked Kallus in amusement. "And why'd Valen call you Cor?"

"My name is Coriolan," Kallus told her uncertainly. "You can…use it. As for why, my attention…" he glanced at Valen stoically. " _Our_ attention should be on you and your recovery. We cannot be there, if we have to be split between our usual duties and our time at the Academy."

That totally caught Ezra by surprise, but she couldn't help the warmth that filled her.

"Remind me to give Coriolan one of my panties once I get the hell out of this hospital," she told Valen, grinning widely.

Valen huffed, obviously jealous, while Kallus' cheeks pinked slightly.

"When does she get out anyway?" Valen asked him.

"About in a little while," Kallus calculated. "They told me that she would get the treatment and then rest for a bit, and whenever she woke up, after a checkup, she gets to go home. From there, the next treatment should be in another few months."

"What do I do until then?" she asked curiously.

"You'll have your sick spells, but you should be fine most of the time," Kallus informed her. "So just rest. Aside from that, I informed two of your compatriots of your sickness and that you're being treated."

"You did what?!" Both Valen and Ezra said in shock.

"I used your comlink to contact your friends," Kallus said stiffly. "I informed them of your status. They are now on their way to find the Inquisitor, whom is on the way or already on the planet of Naboo."

"How'd they find that out?" Ezra asked, still reeling over Kallus talking to her friends.

"I told them where he was," Kallus reluctantly revealed, further giving shock to the two in front of him.

Ezra opened her mouth to question him, but before she could, someone knocked on the door and the doctor slipped in.

"Ah, you're awake! Good! How about we check on your vitals first, before proceeding with the results, alright?"

Ezra gave her agreement, but she didn't take her eyes off of the quiet ISB Agent, unable to figure the man out and find out what was going through his head.

* * *

"That sure was something, huh?" Sabine reluctantly said to Hera with a light tone.

"Something? Yeah, you could say that," the female pilot snorted. "The man couldn't have been more obvious than if he'd tried."

The Mandolorian artist blinked, looking at Hera uncertainly. "What's that mean?" she asked as Hera plugged in the new coordinates.

"It _means_ ," Hera grinned widely, "that Agent Kallus is way over his head in love with our Ezra."

Sabine whistled, though inwardly she wasn't sure how to handle or believe the news.

"When I heard about what Ezra was doing from you, at first I was really skeptical and a little upset and wary about it," Hera confessed. "But you know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm glad she totally wound him up. Him and that pilot we always get into with."

"That _you_ always get into with," Sabine corrected absentmindedly, still thinking about the revelation. "I guess you're right. Turns out her little games turned out for the good. He'd be a good protector really. Strong, knows how to fight, how to defend…Smart…And probably one of the few people, much less guys, that could handle our wild child, right?"

"Not to mention the connection and cover he has," Hera added. "He not only got her the treatment she needed, after finding out her problem in the first place, but he can also make sure no one looks too closely at her, or peg her as a rebel and as part of one of us."

"Are we telling Kanan about this?" Sabine suddenly thought up.

Hera grimaced. "I don't think so. You know what he's like, especially in regards to Ezra. Downright overprotective. He'd lose his head about this, I'll bet. Jedi training or no Jedi training. We'll just…keep it quiet for now. Tell him I got the lead on the Inquisitor's whereabouts from a source…"

Sabine didn't like it, especially given her own feelings with Hera's secretiveness about her sources, but she reluctantly agreed and thought that Kanan would probably take this badly.

Speaking of…

"Hey, we heading off?" Kanan came into the control room, looking anxious.

"Yes, I've got a lead," Hera said, making it simple. Kanan usually never questioned her about her leads and sources…

"But what about Ezra?" a tinge of caginess was in Kanan's voice.

"She called in," Sabine interrupted. "She said she had an in and was able to get into the Imperial Hospital."

"Already?" Kanan stated in surprise. "And I thought her paperwork was delayed. Vizago mentioned having to be careful and that the Imps were tightening up on security and all that."

"She didn't need paperwork apparently," Hera semi-lied. "She had an attack and they took her in, did some bloodwork, and they're treating her now."

"At least they're treating her…" Kanan muttered. "Did they find out what she has?" he asked in a louder voice.

"Yeah…" Hera struggled to continue. Kallus hadn't exactly _told_ them what she had. "She didn't manage to tell us before she had to go. But they found out and she's being treated, and since I've got a lead on the Inquisitor's whereabouts, we better head on over there before he leaves and we miss him."

Kanan looked like he was struggling, before he reluctantly nodded, conceding to them.

"Let's get on this and finish the job," Kanan said seriously, giving them a look. They nodded determinedly back at him. "I'm going to tell Zeb. Hera, start flying us out of here."

He left and the two females let out a huge sigh.

"We keep this between us for now," Hera told her decisively.

Sabine nodded. "Got it."

* * *

Ezra hummed as she practically danced into her apartment, breathing in deeply.

"You're pretty preppy right now," Valen noted in amusement.

"Am I?" Ezra gave him a sly smile. "Well, if I am, then I'm going to enjoy it for while it lasts."

"It'll last for a while," Kallus said firmly, entering the apartment behind them. "Your new medication is in here," he held out a bag. "If you feel sick, in pain, or anything, tell me and we'll sort it out."

"Mmkay," Ezra eyed him with a small smile, still finding this new Kallus strange and fascinating. "So aside from rest, what else do I get to do since I don't have to pretend to be a student anymore?"

"You still get to study," Kallus deadpanned and Ezra gaped at him.

"You're joking, right?"

"No," Kallus kept a straight face.

She looked at him in horror, never minding Valen's sniggering in the background. He couldn't be serious, could he? He was joking with her, right?

"You still need to learn," he said gently. "You had a chance of getting a real education. Wouldn't you want to continue that?"

Ezra was starting to be a bit torn. He did have a point and she liked being able to learn something back when she was in the Academy.

"Who's going to teach me then?" Ezra demanded, sure she'd stump him.

"I will," Kallus unblinkingly said.

That shut up Valen's sniggering, and made him along with Ezra stare at the ISB Agent like he'd grown a second head. He strode over to Ezra though, taking her face in hand. She found herself staring into bronze eyes that were concentrated solely on her.

"If I'm your slave," he said wryly. He jerked his chin at Valen. "And he's your pet…then you have whatever time in your hands to do whatever you want with us. Whether you're learning in the Academy or with me…whether you're just lounging around in this apartment that's not your home…You're welcome to do what you want with us in entirety, as you will."

Ezra was sure that this was actually a blank statement of control and a renewal of his side of the deal between him and her, and all of a sudden the games she was playing she knew wasn't just games anymore, she realized. This…this was much more real and serious, and she wasn't sure she was completely okay with that.

But she didn't move away when Kallus, after looking deeply into her eyes for a moment, leaned down and she watched his face coming closer until he kissed her firmly and didn't move away from her.

It seemed the man was definitely resolute in his decision, whatever it was, and wasn't going to let up or back down. In fact, it seemed there was no turning back for him anymore.

And as Valen reached them and went behind her, his own arms going around her waist and proving he wasn't going to turn back anymore either, Ezra closed her eyes and decided that maybe she wouldn't be turning back herself.

Valen's nose buried itself into her neck with his lips brushing against it, and Kallus' lips moving against hers still as he was holding tightly onto her arms.

This wasn't what she had expected or could have predicted when she came to Lothal, ready to infiltrate the Imperial world. She had no idea this was the outcome that would happen, not even when she decided to be crazy and risky and mess with Valen and Kallus in the beginning of all this.

' _You own them now, Ezra. You own them, so take responsibility.'_

"I'm going to die," she stated plainly.

"No, you aren't," Valen said harshly against her neck.

"I am. Whether by my sickness or by Imperials," she told them bluntly, not shying from what she saw as fact.

"You're being treated," Kallus murmured against her lips.

"Maybe. But there's no guarantee of it, is there? And what about the Imperials? Of your side? I'm still a rebel, you know."

She waited quietly, waiting for them.

"You won't be sick," Valen started in conviction.

"And we crossed too many lines now to be considered true Imperials, haven't we?" Kallus ended.

Ezra swallowed and closed her eyes, slumping against the two men's bodies.

She was afraid to take responsibility for them.

Started 3/17/16 – Completed 3/18/16


	9. Let's Walk It Out

"You don't look happy."

"'Course I am," Ezra replied, not even looking at Valen. Still, she knew she was frowning heavily at the coursework (yes, school work) that Kallus had made up and given to her. Bastard.

"Despite the fact I know you're not happy having to do work, I believe it's not the reason you are unhappy," Kallus interjected into the conversation as well.

Ezra gripped the stylus before relaxing her fingers a bit. "They're off chasing the Inquisitor, and I'm just sitting here doing _schoolwork_ ," she glared at it. "I hate that. I hate that I'm here, while they're risking their necks."

"They wanted you safe," Kallus aid firmly.

"Isn't there something we could do?" Valen asked hesitantly.

Kallus opened his mouth to decisively refuse, but caught a glimpse of Ezra. Though she was still staring at her coursework, he saw the tears gathering at her eyes.

"The Inquisitor is held back at a planet halfway before Naboo," Kallus started, bringing attention to him. "With your crew having to navigate stealthily, they still might not be able to get there before him and would probably just end up confronting him as is, which was the overall plan anyway. However, if we could get there before the Inquisitor, we could not only find out why he was sent there in the first place, but we could set things up and memorize our field so that the terrain and surroundings will be to our advantage."

"We'll have the advantage over the Inquisitor," Valen concluded. "And since you and I are Imperial officers, we can head straight to Naboo with no problems and no questions asked about it.

"It'll be better and look more official if we go aboard and commandeer _The Lawbringer_ ," Kallus thought it over. "I will need to draft an order and contact Captain Zataire, and we'll need to get a uniform for Ezra so she can blend in…"

"She's one of my top students in Flight and Mechanics," Valen told him proudly. "I can find a mechanic suit she can wear and she can work aboard the ship."

"Yes, it's best she keep out of sight," Kallus murmured. "She might still be interacting with too many people as a mechanic for my taste, but it's better than being near the higher ranked officers aboard or having no purpose or role in the ship and yet still being on it."

Ezra watched them in surprise, feeling rather touched by their willingness to do this for her. It was…strange. She really hadn't expected this, and to know that they were going this far for her…

"You two," she shook her head, but she allowed herself to smile fondly at them. "Sometimes I wonder when did you two become such saps."

"Because of you," the two of them echoed, their tones bland as they gave her deadpan looks.

She laughed, though she was surprised by them, especially Kallus. The man had really lightened up some, and she admitted that she really did like this side of him.

"So when do we get started?" she asked cheerfully.

Valen stood up, cracking his neck. "I'll go swipe a mechanic suit now. Weylen was transferred to the Flight Academy, so he can get me one and even one in your size, I bet."

"I too shall get started on the order papers and call on Captain Zataire," Kallus said as he got up as well.

"What should I do?" Ezra asked, feeling excited.

"Do your work," Kallus told her blandly, causing her to stare open-mouthed at him while Valen snickered.

"Seriously?!"

"Seriously."

And as they left her, Ezra grumbled to herself and pouted. Still, inwardly she was still really happy with this and…with them. Yeah, she hadn't expected them to get so attached (or her, for that matter), but in the end she could feel herself be really happy.

She hadn't felt this happy since the time she joined the crew and became part of the family.

* * *

"Can we go any slower?" Sabine frowned, trying not to glower at Kanan and Hera.

"We've got to be under the radar," Kanan told her, frowning himself. "We don't want to be caught and we don't want to alert anyone, especially the Inquisitor, to what we're up to."

"Heh, we're just lucky that bloodhound Kallus is stuck on Lothal and being distracted," Zeb laughed lowly to himself.

Sabine just barely managed to wipe the grin from escaping onto his face. _'Oh, he's distracted alright.'_

She almost let out some giggles, but stopped herself. Still, she caught Hera's eyes, who gave her a look and she knew the other woman knew what had been going through Sabine's mind and that the rebel artist hadn't been as stealthy about her reactions as she would have liked. However, behind the warning look, there was a bit of amusement in the pilot's eyes that said that she was sharing a little in Sabine's amusement as well.

"I should have checked on Ezra myself, before we left," Kanan was nervously tapping his lightsaber. "She's there by herself now, and we aren't even anywhere close to her. We couldn't bail her out if she needed us."

"Ezra's a tough girl and practically grown up," Hera said firmly. "She can take care of herself."

"Yeah," Sabine chipped in. "Don't smother her, Kanan. Geez, no wonder people think you're her dad with the way you act around her."

"Hey!" Kanan said defensively. "I'm just trying to make sure she's alright and doesn't need help each time! She's my Padawan. It's n-normal."

"Yeah, sure," Sabine snorted, giving him a disbelieving look.

Kanan glared at all three of them, even Zeb (who had joined in on the teasing and sided with the females).

"I'm just being a good Master! And…there's nothing wrong with, uh, being fatherly," Kanan mumbled at the end.

"Uh huh," Sabine rolled her eyes. "But you get excessive and overprotective. Don't overdo it, Mr. I'm-Not-Her-Dad."

She wondered how Kanan would react to Ezra 'dating' two Imperials then. Especially _who_ those Imperials were…

Sabine nearly burst into laughter then, imagining that. Oh, that would be so classic, and she was so tempted to reveal that juicy little fact to Kanan now. He'd probably rant and burst a blood vessel, and then yell at them for not telling him earlier, right before he made the ship turn around and head straight back to Ezra. And he'd probably scream at the poor girl as well, before dragging her along with them, and deciding it was best that Ezra come with them instead.

Poor Ezra indeed. It must suck to have such headstrong, prideful men in her life. _Three_ of them at that.

At least Zeb would just go into shock.

* * *

"It's a little baggy, but it should be fine," Valen muttered, escorting Ezra onto the ship and showing her where her workplace was and then to where her quarters would be.

Ezra picked at the mechanic suit she was now sporting. "Meh, yeah. It should be fine," she confirmed. "Don't worry about it. Where's Coriolan?" she asked, still getting used to Kallus' name.

"On deck with Captain Zataire," Valen revealed. "He'll meet with you in your room later on, after he's done. I'll be around later as well, but for now, I've got to head to meet the other pilots. Apparently, these are the times you'll be working. I tried to get you the least amount of time as possible, but it's still plenty of work. It'll keep you occupied while Cor and I are busy working at least. I've told the head mechanic that you're new and you can ask him or any of the others for help, if you need it."

"Thanks," Ezra sighed, feeling a little nervous about this. She wasn't sure just how reliable her skillset about this could be, and she also wasn't sure she'd be able to fool the others about her 'allegiances' when it came to that.

But she did managed enough within the Academy…

Still, it was a little different, considering the settings. The Academy had more kids her age, rather than all these officers on board this ship that she would have to trick into thinking she was loyal to the Empire and all.

"You'll be fine," Valen tried to reassure her, as if he knew that she was anxious about this. At her room, she turned to him as they stood by her door, and watched as he smiled gently at her. "Seriously, don't worry and just relax. Be your charming self…minus handing out your underwear and sexually aggravating everyone," he ended dryly.

She laughed a little, giving him a small smile. "Why? You'd be jealous?"

He huffed. "Yeah, yeah," but he still leaned in and kissed her, taking her aback. Damn, she really had lost control of Valen and Kallus, especially when they're getting so comfortable stealing kisses from her all the time now.

"That was totally a freebie," Ezra muttered stubbornly. "You and Coriolan should get back to being obedient dogs."

"Woof."

She glared at him as he laughed and ruffled her hair, before he leaned in again and kissed the top of her head.

"See you later, Loth-rat," he said playfully as he walked away.

"I'll steal your helmet again!" she threatened at his back.

Grumbling, Ezra shook her head and slipped into her room. She really was losing control! So not fair.

She needed to find a way to put leashes back on those two, damn it.

* * *

"Sabine, can I talk to you?" Hera asked, acting light and cheery for the sake of the other two in the kitchen.

Sabine looked at her warily, but when was that girl not? She was always suspicious of everything, in the same way Ezra was always looking wary because she wouldn't trust anyone. Even now, while it was much better than the beginning, even they had trouble getting the girl to trust and confide in them.

Once Sabine reached her side, she led the way to the control room.

"Okay, spill," Sabine gave her a look that she ignored.

"So…I know we were told by Kallus that the Inquisitor was heading to Naboo. But _why_? What is he after? Naboo is more or less the Empire's –it's the Emperor's homeworld after all."

It made Sabine sneer, but gave her an idea. "You think it has something the Emperor doesn't want known? Or something on it that could be used like a superweapon or something?"

Hera bit her lip, thinking about it. "I hope it's information. But if it's a weapon…Damn, I wish we could contact Kallus and have him tell us more about this. Or anything else he might know!"

"And since when were you two in contact with Agent Kallus?"

Kanan's voice made the two of them freeze before they traded guilty looks with each other and then reluctantly turn towards him. He looked at them with a severe scowl, his jaw clenching with a visible muscle throbbing in his jaw.

"Ah kriff," Sabine muttered.

"We can…we can explain," Hera took a step towards him, relieved that he didn't move away. However, that he was staunchly standing there and giving her a look that was boring holes into her wasn't all that reassuring either.

"Then explain," Kanan's scowl, if it was possible, grew worse.

Inwardly, Hera very much groaned and wanted to smack her head. Why didn't she just drag Sabine to her room or something? Or why couldn't Kanan mind his own business?

"Well, it starts with Ezra actually…" she started weakly.

Started 4/4/16 – 4/4/16

**Author's Note:**

> So this was originally the start of a Dollhouse fic. Being that my interests aren't so much into Dollhouse (my muse was murdered brutally by FOX), I still like this idea and decided to retool it for Rebels.


End file.
